Age Concern Older Offenders Project (South West)

Age Concern Older Offenders Project

Age Concern Older Offenders Project (ACOOP) aims to offer social care, advice and support to older offenders and their families, both in prison and within the wider criminal justice system. 

ACOOP serves the South West of England, being an initiative developed by Age Concern Regional Support Services (South West), a charitable company comprising the 14 Age Concern organisations and 33 groups in the region and Age Concern England.

Age Concern identified the need for this work because:

  • The numbers of older people entering the criminal justice system has trebled in the past twenty years
  • It is estimated that  approximately 10% of prisoners are aged over 50
  • Despite being the fastest growing section of the prison population, there is little research, little data and information and little current provision available
  • There are no specific national policies addressing the particular needs of this group
  • Individual institutions and organisations often lack the resources and specialist knowledge to meet older people’s health and social care requirements

ACOOP is the first project in England seeking to address some of these issues in a practical and effective way, working in partnership with prisons, probation trusts, other voluntary and community groups and prisoners and their families. We work closely with RESTORE 50+, the national older prisoners self help group, who first identified the need for this type of initiative.

The Background - From limited research carried out to date, the increase in the older prison population is generally attributed to:
  • Changes in social and police attitudes to older people
  • Improved forensic detection and retrospective prosecution of sex offenders
  • An increase in female convictions for drug related crime, especially by foreign nationals
  • An increase in female convictions for violence potentially linked to female drinking
  • Less tolerance by the courts of deviant behaviour by older people and therefore a greater readiness to imprison them
  • Tougher sentencing in general
What are the challenges older offenders face in the criminal justice system?
Prisons are, in the main, built for young, able bodied offenders, and few have special provision for older offenders. Prisons, often built in the 19th Century struggle to comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, in particular:
  • Building design is often made up of several floors, with long walkways between cells and key locations, e.g. libraries and education facilities
  • Incessant background noise
  • Adapted equipment is few and far between
  • Showers and other facilities are hazardous for less able prisoners
  • Exercise opportunities are often not available to people with disabilities or who are less mobile than other prisoners
Health and social care issues:
  • More than 80% of older prisoners have long standing illnesses or disabilities
  • Over 50% suffer from a mental disorder
  • 30% have a diagnosis of depression
  • Disabilities associated with chronic disease and lifestyle are more common in older prisoners than older people in the community
  • Funding for education in prisons is often limited to people of working age
  • Those retired in prison often have no educational or leisure opportunities and remain locked in their cells for long periods of time
  • Many feel threatened by younger prisoners
  • Many older prisoners have lost contact with friends and family, and often do not have a home to return to on release from prison


© Age Concern Regional Support Services (South West) ~ Registered Charity No: 1096224
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