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The Government should consider setting up "nursing
home jails" for elderly inmates, a Prison Reform Trust study says. The study claims the Prison Service is failing to
provide adequate healthcare for prisoners over 60. Over-60s make up the fastest-growing age group in
England and Wales, with 1,200 inmates - three times the number a decade
ago, according to the study. The campaign group argues that steep rises in numbers
have left the prisons struggling to deal with the health problems of the
elderly. Building the kind of "nursing home prisons"
that already exist in America could be the answer, the group argues. These are specially designed to care for elderly inmates
and to cope with their unique health needs. Most prisoners over 60 are serving long sentences for
violent or sexual crimes and many will die behind bars. The prison population in England and Wales currently
stands at an all-time high of 74,000. Four chief constables have been warned they may need to
hold prisoners in police cells as jails head towards full capacity. Mr Blunkett has secured cash to build an extra 1,000
prison spaces, bringing the total to 78,700 by 2006. But the Home Office's own projections say that between
8,000 and 22,000 extra places will be required on top of that figure. There are 14,000 more people in prison today than when
Labour came to power in 1997. And the number has risen nearly 8,000 since Mr Blunkett
became Home Secretary in June 2001. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
