अमूर्त

Older convicts' unrecognised psychiatric morbidity.

Erin Pachana

 The proportion of senior inmates is rising. In the ten-year period from 1988 to 1998, the number of convicted males in England and Wales who were 60 years of age or older more than tripled to 1055, and the percentage of elderly convicts in the total sentenced male population more than quadrupled to 1.7%. In the USA, where there are currently 43 000 convicted males over 55 in prison, there is a similar trend. There hasn't been any research that we are aware of on the frequency of psychiatric disease among senior condemned convicts. Studies from earlier stages of the criminal justice system suggest that this population is likely to have high rates of mental disease, particularly dementia. An analysis of case notes from remand detainees revealed that 11/20. Around 10% of senior persons who live in the community have a psychiatric condition, and 5–10% has dementia, according to epidemiological surveys. Psychiatric morbidity would likely be high in older prisoners, even though examinations of convicted convicts have excluded individuals over 65 from their samples. This conclusion can be drawn from these studies and from community surveys. The study described here set out to find out how common psychiatric disorders were among condemned male offenders who were 60 years of age or older.