Leaving prison later in life: improving care of Australia’s older inmates
This article discusses the situation of older people in prison, who typically have multiple physical, mental and cognitive health comorbidities.
Typically, older people in prison have multiple physical, mental and cognitive health comorbidities. These comorbidities are higher in number and present at a younger age compared with similar aged-peers in the community.
Older people in prison also have unique and pronounced health care needs compared with their younger counterparts. They tend to take a higher number of medications while imprisoned (average 3.5), and require more management for chronic, age-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes compared with younger adults whose most common health needs relate to mental health and substance misuse.
Release from prison creates a risk of significant disruption to care during an already volatile period. Medicare is not available in prison; rather, prison health care services are run separately by each state and territory government. This makes the transfer of care from prison to the community more important to ensure care continuity for this high needs group.
Unfortunately, prison release processes have no formal provisions for care transfer.
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