Older prisoners with care needs could be housed in specialist units built within the walls of existing prisons, according to a campaigner.
Pete White,national coordinaor of the charity Positive Prison? Positive Futures, said he was concerned that inmates and staff could be targeted, if facilities were built or converted in the community.
His comments came after former Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill suggested the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) could deal with soaring numbers of prisoners aged over 50 by buying care homes, which could be converted into penal institutions for convicted criminals with health needs. The number of older prisoners has increased rapidly in recent years, with the number of over 65s rising by 58 per cent since 2010. The change has been attributed to historic sex abuse cases seeing older men jailed for crimes committed sometimes decades ago.
READ MORE: SNP Transport Minister Humza Yousaf blames marriage split for driving without insurance
However Mr White said all prisoners should be given the best possible care while in custody. "SPS don't choose who is sent to them or for how long. They have a duty to properly look after these people - some of whom will never be released - as they grow older."
"People can't be kept in accommodation that doesn't meet their basic needs as they age and lose mobility and perhaps mental health and wellbeing."
However he said secure care homes might not be welcomed in communities, given the likely population. "If they are put in the community, they are going to be targeted in all sorts of ways. I'm also worried anyone going in to visit, or lawyers going in to work with clients, could be branded as people who sympathise with the prisoners inside."
He said the complications of setting up multiple small units would make them unlikely to offer value for money.
Some prisons, such as HMP Low Moss have experimented with "mature" wings where older prisoners are kept separately from the wider prison population, to manage their care needs better, but also for protection. "That is an example of what can be done," Mr White said. "Custom built units within existing prisons could be made to be part of prison culture, without the same complication."
Writing in the Herald yesterday, Mr MacAskill had suggested electronic tagging, or care homes could be a better option than trying to cope with the needs of elderly prisoners with staff who lacked training to do so in Victorian institutions which were built for a very different population.
However his proposal for the SPS to buy care homes got a cool reception from political opponents.
Shadow justice secretary Douglas Ross said: "Kenny MacAskill seems to be coming up with more ideas in retirement than he ever did as justice secretary. These individuals are in prison for a reason, and the public will want to know that they are being kept in an appropriate facility.
“Many residents will also rightly have concerns about a property in their neighbourhood going from housing the elderly to housing criminals.”
READ MORE: SNP Transport Minister Humza Yousaf blames marriage split for driving without insurance
Scottish Labour’s Justice spokesperson, Claire Baker MSP, said: “With the potential rise in historic sexual abuse cases there is a discussion to be had around an ageing prison population. However, it is important that any sentence is appropriate to the crime and an acceptance that many prisoners often have complex health needs that must be met, regardless of age.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here