Dementia Awareness education for prisoners, families and staff in one Scottish Prison

We know that the number of older people and the number of people with dementia in prisons is growing rapidly and significantly, and that this presents challenges in providing appropriate care. There was a 161% increase between 2004 and 2016 in the over 55 population in England and Wales. We also know that prisoners have a higher rate than the normal population of various dementia risk factors including head injury, smoking drug and alcohol misuse, and low educational attainment. However there has been very little research into dementia in prison. This means we do not know how many people are living with dementia in prison, and we also know very little about the experience of living with dementia in prison from the perspective of the person, their visiting family and friends of staff. This project between HMP Shotts, Scotland and Alzheimer Scotland engaged 202 prisoners and 55 staff in dementia awareness and information sessions. It also raised awareness of dementia with families at visiting times and Alzheimer Scotland’s Memory Bus visited the prison. This presentation will describe the partnership approach taken to involve prisoners, families and staff, give an overview of the education delivered, illuminate the learning so far and outline next steps.