Introduction: Population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon that
forces us to make radical changes on multiple levels of society. So far,
studies have concluded that the health, both physical and mental, of
prisoners in general and older prisoners in particular is worse than that
of the general population. Prisoners are reported to age faster as
compared to adults in the community. However, to date, very little is
known about the actual healthcare conditions of older prisoners and
almost no substantial knowledge is available concerning their patterns
of healthcare use.
Method: A quantitative study was conducted in four prisons for male
prisoners in Switzerland, including two open and two closed prisons
situated in different cantons. In this study, medical records of older
prisoners (50+) were obtained from the respective authority upon
consent and total anonymity was ensured. Data gathered from all
available medical records included basic demographic information,
education and prison sentencing. Healthcare data obtained were
extensive in nature encompassing data related to illness types, number
of visits to different health care providers and hospitals. The
corresponding reasons for visits and outcomes of these visits were
extracted. All data are analysed using statistical software SPSS 20.0.
Results: Data were extracted for a total of 50 older prisoners living in
Switzerland. The chosen prisons are located in German-speaking
cantons. Preliminary results show that the age average was 56 years.
For more than half, this was their first imprisonment. Nevertheless, a
third of them were sentenced to measures (Art. 64 Swiss Criminal
Code) which means that the length of the detention is indefinite and
while release is possible it is in most cases not very likely. This entails
that these prisoners will grow old in prison and some will even spend
their remaining years there. Concerning their health, a third of the
sample reported respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and half
reported suffering from some form of musculoskeletal related pain.
Older prisoners were prescribed on average only 3.5 medications,
which is significantly fewer than the number of medication prescribed to
younger prisoners, whose data were also sampled.
Conclusion: Access to healthcare is a right given to all prisoners
through the principle of equivalence which is generally exercised in
Switzerland. Prisoners growing old in prison will represent a challenge
for prison health care services.