The Elderly in Prison
| Author | James Morton |
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.69.3.189.64779 |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Opinion |
OPINION
The Elderly in Prison
James Morton
It is coming up to four years from the moment that Ronnie Biggs first set
foot on British soil following his escape from Wandsworth prison in
1965. For those who are too young —and there must now be many—to
remember why he was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment in the first
place, it was because he was a member of the team which carried out
the Great Train Robbery two years earlier. In passing, it is interesting to
note that the lives of the team after serving their prison sentences have
overall not been an unmitigated success. One never made it out of
prison, one was shot dead in Spain, two were given lengthy sentences
for drug offences, another committed suicide, yet another shot his
parents-in-law and later died following a heart attack, and so on.
Biggs, however, has been another matter entirely. After his escape he
went to Australia and then to Brazil where he survived attempts both
through diplomatic (and other) channels to have him extradited. Al-
though over the years he became something of a celebrity, thumbing his
nose at the British government—by accounts he led a crime-free life
whilst on the run. In more recent times, however, he suffered a number
of strokes and apparently was largely relying on handouts from British
criminals who visited him as well as earnings as a quasi-tourist guide.
In 2001, perhaps ill-advisedly and sponsored by the Sun, he returned
in a blaze of publicity—100 police officers were at Northolt to capture
him and guard against possible efforts to spring him—to be arrested and
whisked off to Belmarsh Prison from where, apart from frequent visits to
hospital, he has never emerged. He is presently in very poor health.
Further strokes have left him enfeebled and apparently he is able to
communicate only by pointing a pencil at an alphabet. Is there a case for
releasing him and, for that matter, a number of other elderly and infirm
criminals? The prison population now has a substantial element of
prisoners who no longer pose a threat to society and are effectively in
care at a very substantial cost to the community. Is there any real point
in keeping the Biggs of the prison population in custody?
In one respect Biggs is fortunate in that he has family friends and
lawyers to press for his release. On the other hand he suffers from being
a high-profile criminal who, because of his derring-do escape and sub-
sequent life, will receive no favours from the authorities. There is little
doubt that he and his supporters must have thought that a few months
inside would be sufficient. It was a disastrous miscalculation. Now will
he ever be released?
First, what about his release and the release for others like him?
Certainly, under s. 36(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the Home
Secretary has the power to release a prisoner on compassionate grounds
if there are exceptional circumstances to justify the decision. It is a
189
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