Institutional Thoughtlessness in Prisons and Its Impacts on the Day-to-Day Prison Lives of Elderly Men

The number of elderly men in the prisons of England and Wales has grown significantly during the past decade and continues to rise. Based on intensive fieldwork in four English prisons, this article explores the prison experiences of menaged 65+ years. Some of these menhave grownold in prison, some have served previous prison sentences, and others (the majority) have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment in later life. The latter had no prior experience of imprisonment. This article is concerned primarily with what is termed institutional thoughtlessness—the ways in which prison regimes (routines, rules, time-tables, etcetera) simply roll on with little reference to the needs and sensibilities of the old. This article argues that some degree of institutional thoughtlessness is evident in most of the prisons of England and Wales. Drawing on interviews and sustained observations, the article discusses some of the impacts of this thoughtlessness on imprisoned, elderly men.