Challenges Faced by Older Prisoners

This assignment discusses the challenges faced by older prisoners, including age-related issues, mental and physical health concerns, and ethical considerations for prison management. It highlights the need for a humanitarian philosophy such as Virtue Ethics to guide decision-making in this context.

Comparative business ethics
and social responsibility

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Outline for the article..................................................................................................................1
Key ethical issues concern..........................................................................................................3
Appropriate ethical decisions......................................................................................................4
Ethical decision making processes by identifying most relevant of seven moral philosophies..5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Comparative business ethics and social responsibility, are individuals' or organisations'
accountability towards fulfilling their civic duty or actions that would benefit the whole society
(Crane and Matten, 2016). In this report argument and outline will be made concerning to an
article. Article is been selected from ABC News article on “Old and guilty: What happens when
our seniors face prison?” by Owen Jacques. In this issue of increasing number of older
prisoners have been discussed. Key ethical issues concerns raised in this article is been
determined. The appropriation relating to ethical decisions are derived for the topic. By
identifying most relevant moral philosophy, ethical decision making processes are been
determined.
MAIN BODY
Outline for the article
There is no age limit for crime and in its punishment. For older persons of society who is
involved in violence, hurting or killing others in community, there is no guarantee for their relief
from imprisonment, at their last times. They have to live out their last years behind bars, if
justice system rules them to face custodial sentence. Elderly people are being sent to prison, as
according to Queensland's mandatory prison term for the penalty for murder, whether they are of
age 18 or 80, they receive a life sentence if found guilty for murder.
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According to Australian Bureau of statistics, about 2.5 percent of Australian prison inmates who
are been sentenced life imprisonment are of age of 65 years and above. In prisons of Australia as
per data collected in 2001, there were 231 people who were aged over 65. The number have
increased to 527 in 2010, has increased by 128 percent. About 50 percent of older prisoners face
mental health issues (Trotter and Baidawi, 2015). They are more troubled than younger inmates,
they feel frustrated and disturbed. Older prisoners who are weak or have any kind of disabilities,
are the most who suffer or get harmed in prison environment. Increases are due to harsh
sentencing policies and older offenders are also imprisoned by courts, whose crimes challenges
society's stereotypes related to their age.
Number of older prisoners are increasing as there are changes in sentencing and prosecution laws
and practices. These includes making mandatory of minimum sentencing for penalty against
murders or sexual offence and reduced options for early release of a convict. These all have
contributed to the increase in population of elderly prisoner populations. As per Australian
population statistics, number of citizens aged 50 years or more have increased by 31 percent.
Older prisoners proportion are higher, who are convicted to offences that are provisioned for
longer sentence periods, such as murder, homicides, sex or drug related offences, etc. may
contribute in rise of number nationwide (Baidawi, 2016).
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Illustration 1: Prisoners in Australia 2010
(Source: Older prisoners – A challenge for Australian corrections, 2017)

Key ethical issues concern
Elderly prisoners are defined by various issues and presented with unique challenges
across a number of domains, including mental and physical health requirements, reimbursement
associated with vulnerability to victimisation, incarceration, service delivery, prison environment
and release planning.
Below are some ethical issues concerned to this situation:
Health concerns: Most immediate or obvious issues that are faced by older prisoners are
related to their age and decline in the stature of mental and physical health. Concerning to fast
natural ageing procedure, a prisoner who is of 50 years of age are mostly awaited to show age
related issues or concerns. Such concerns include fear of dying, coping with terminal illness or
disease, disability, impairment, loss of independence, reduced level of mobility and cognitive
impairments. It has certain implications for prison health services. Such as screening, medical
examination, chronic disease management and preventive healthcare, as well as custodial
management of elderly prisoners (Jewkes, Crewe and Bennett, 2016).
Prison environment and regime: Environment of prison are mainly planned according to
young and able bodied inmates, who comprises majority of prisoners. It is been argued by many
researchers that prison environment and regimes, worsens the conditions of older prisoners'
health concerns. They poorly supports for the needs of elder inmates with physical disabilities,
like having vision or hearing impairment, limited mobility, required use of wheelchairs, ramps,
walking sticks or frames.
Vulnerability to victimisation: Older prisoners, mainly those having disabilities, limited
mobility, etc. are subjected or exposed to exploitation than their younger inmates who are
generally physically stronger than them. Prison staffs are not willing or trained to push
wheelchairs, therefore they toss away dependant prisoners to victimisation by other inmates.
Most older prisoners are murderers or sex-offenders, discarding them to exploitation based on
their offence category.
Release and resettlement issues: Difficulties in support for elderly prisoners and post
release planning caused by lack of coordination (eg funding, and service provision or resources)
between community correctional services and community agencies, prisons, priority is been
given to younger prisoners (either due to high sensed hazard of re-offending or higher sensed
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chances of successful re-integration and rehabilitation) (Maschi, Marmo and Han, 2014). Lack of
plan of action for addressing the requirements of elderly inmates or prisoners, conjunctive to
limiting criteria for the early medical freeing of chronically or terminally ill persons.
Appropriate ethical decisions
In my opinion in Australia there were certain ethical decisions been made for facilitating
elderly inmates. Only state in Australia for responding to this issue is Victoria, as a part of its
new Ravenhall Prison, they have also build a 75 bed specialist mental health unit in 2017.
Changes in prisons' architectures are carried out to create an age friendly environment, for
implying equal treatment for all prisoners, whether young or older. To ensure that the prison’s
structural environment even compensates and supports for the reducing abilities of their old
inmates is the main aim of these changes (Hayes, 2017). Prisons might need to be redesigned to
bring down walking distances between a prisoner’s cell to recreational, dining, and health care
areas; consider barriers in corridors for rendering assistance while walking; and built-in lift or
ramps so as to cater older prisoners to avoid using steps. Specially modified furniture like chairs
and higher beds should be incorporated to decreasing extrinsic falls and injuries.
Health care professionals have obligations to inform authorities, with patients’ consent,
about medical opinions, concerning ethical caring of dying inmates of prisons. Australian
Council have highlighted that prisoners should but be granted humanitarian release instead of
leaving them to die in prison. Truly equivalent end of life care might only be best obtained
outside prisons. Probably the less costly and more humane alternative is providing
compassionate release. Number of ethically acceptable solutions exist to implement equivalent
health care for elderly prisoners (Mulder, Jordan and Rink, 2015). To the prison system, not all
of them would outcome in increasing of costs. For example, non dangerous prisoners can be
given merciful release or transfer them to palliative care structures would bea more cost-effective
and an ethical measure than continuing to confine dying older persons in much costly chronic-
care facilities.
There are certain legal sanctions for imposed for facilitating older prisoners. Australian
government has revised Standards for Prisoners and offenders. They have designed Revised
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and Standard Guidelines for Correction
in Australia, 2015. These standards provide older prisoners with facilities to meet the needs of
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elder people with complex medical conditions and physical disabilities. These standards establish
that older prisoners must have access to health services available in country without any
discrimination based on their legal situations. They are also provisioned for medical parole or
compassionate release, if they have serious illness, before completion of their sentence. This is
known as early medical policy. The reason for this policy is, that many older inmates have been
suffering from serious diseases or illness and mostly die within prisons due to lack of proper
care. This policy would provide them to get early release or parole for treating their medical
conditions and spend rest of their time with their families or friends.
Ethical decision making processes by identifying most relevant of seven moral philosophies.
As per my decisions, older prisoners who are eligible for early release can be given
compassionate release for spending their remaining time with their loved ones. Proper facilities
are to be given to them like conducting health check-ups, better lighting, ramps, etc. They are to
be provided with assistance for helping them for performing their daily tasks. Older prisoners
must be allowed to meet their family members and reputed friends.
It a normal process that individual resort to, of applying moral philosophy to ethical
decision making. Moral philosophy is study of ethical judgement or values placed for deciding
what is wrong or right, just or unjust, good or bad. The most appropriate moral philosophy that
can be used in this case is of Virtue ethics. It a normative ethical theory that emphasis on the
virtues of character and mind. It can be identified as one that stress more on moral characters or
virtues, rather than rules or duties or than consequences of actions (Blamey and Thompson,
2017).
Virtue ethics provides guidance to kind of behaviours and characteristics that a good
person would seek to attain, along with dealing with rightness or wrongness of individual
actions. This philosophy considers prisoner’s whole life rather than some actions for which he is
been prisoned. This would help to build a good society by helping its members for being a good
people, instead of using laws or punishments for preventing crimes. Rehabilitation centres and
mental health centres are to be established for improving a persons' characteristics or behaviours,
instead of deriving harsh policies for punishing after they commit crimes.
Virtue moral philosophy centres ethics on person and it means to be human. Its a
humanitarian philosophy which shows concerns towards older prisoners (Hausman, McPherson
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and Satz, 2016). They have to been seen as human instead of a criminal. They must be provided
better facilities, keeping in mind of their age.
CONCLUSION
Number of older prisoners are increasing, as there are changes in legal action and
condemnation laws and practices. These includes making compulsory of minimum sentencing
for penalty against murders or sexual offence and decreased options for primeval release of a
convict. Most immediate or obvious issues that are faced by older prisoners are related to their
age and mental or physical health. They are subjected to victimisation than younger inmates.
There are certain ethical decisions been made such as, change in prison’s corporal environment
aid and even counterbalance for the declining competencies of its ageing members. Moral
philosophy is study of ethical judgement or values placed for deciding what is wrong or right,
just or unjust, good or bad. The most appropriate moral philosophy that can be used in this case
is of Virtue ethics. Its a humanitarian philosophy which shows concerns towards older prisoners.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baidawi, S., 2016. Older prisoners: psychological distress and associations with mental health
history, cognitive functioning, socio-demographic, and criminal justice
factors. International psychogeriatrics. 28(3). pp.385-395.
Blamey, J. and Thompson, J.W., 2017. Modern Moral Philosophy. Macat Library.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Hausman, D., McPherson, M. and Satz, D., 2016. Economic analysis, moral philosophy, and
public policy. Cambridge University Press.
Hayes, A.J., 2017. Aging Inside: Older Adults in Prison. In Emerging Issues in Prison
Health (pp. 1-12). Springer, Dordrecht.
Jewkes, Y., Crewe, B. and Bennett, J. eds., 2016. Handbook on prisons. Routledge.
Maschi, T., Marmo, S. and Han, J., 2014. Palliative and end-of-life care in prisons: a content
analysis of the literature. International journal of prisoner health.10(3). pp.172-197.
Mulder, L.B., Jordan, J. and Rink, F., 2015. The effect of specific and general rules on ethical
decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.126. pp.115-129.
Trotter, C. and Baidawi, S., 2015. Older prisoners: Challenges for inmates and prison
management. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology. 48(2). pp.200-218.
Online
Older prisoners – A challenge for Australian corrections. 2017 [Online] Available through:
<https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi426>
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