Research and analysis

Needs and characteristics of older prisoners: SPCR survey results

This report summarises findings from sample 2 of Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR), a longitudinal cohort study of 2,171 adult prisoners sentenced to between 18 months and four years in 2006 and 2007.

• From: Ministry of Justice
• Published: 29 October 2014

Documents

The needs and characteristics of older prisoners: results from the SPCR survey

PDF, 154 KB, 13 pages

Prison reception statistics: annex A

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 41 KB

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Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction survey: annex B

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 163 KB

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Details

In June 2013, the number of prisoners in England and Wales aged over 50 was over 10,000, representing about 12% of the prison population (Ministry of Justice (MOJ), 2013a). Whilst prisoners aged 30-39 still comprised the largest age group, between 2002 and 2013, prisoners aged 60 or over were the fastest growing age group (130% increase) followed by those aged 50-59 (104% increase).

This report summarises findings from sample 2 of Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR), a longitudinal cohort study of 2,171 adult prisoners sentenced to between 18 months and four years in 2006 and 2007. It focuses on the needs and characteristics of 115 older prisoners (aged 50 and over) on reception to custody compared to 2,056 younger prisoners (18 - 49 years old). Whilst a degree of caution should be taken in extrapolating findings due to the small numbers, this study suggests older prisoners may have some unique needs which should be considered in targeting resources.

Published 29 October 2014