PRISON POPULATIONS as victims. If they are arrested and prosecuted, their victimisation should be taken into account and they should be dealt with in accordance with international standards on child justice at all times.224 Research on these issues in Europe concluded that children were being unnecessarily and disproportionately criminalised for expressing opinions, often online, that are viewed as glorifying or inciting terrorism.225 The ICCPR and the Convention on the Rights of the Child both expressly forbid capital punishment for offenders who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offences they were convicted of. The prohibition on the execution of child offenders is so widely observed that it has attained the status of a peremptory norm of international law. However, a very small number of countries continue to retain the death penalty for crimes committed by children. During 2018, it was reported that Iran executed at least five individuals who were sentenced to death for crimes they allegedly committed as children,226 while South Sudan also executed a child.227 Several people remained on death row in Saudi Arabia for crimes committed when they were children.228 (See Death penalty, page 15). RECOMMENDATION 11 pre-trial proceedings, long sentences and barriers to early release, as well as elderly prisoners being charged with historical offences, such as sexual abuse offences.234 In Japan and Singapore, there have been reports that old age itself is a trigger for offending because it results in increased levels of poverty and a lack of family and social support.235 The Japanese Ministry of Justice reported that in 2017 the proportion of elderly former offenders returning to prison was notably high, with many facing unstable prospects outside jail due to inadequate support from their families and difficulty in finding employment.236 In the US, the ‘greying’ of prisons is accounted for by both an increase in admissions of older people to prison and the use of longer sentences as a public safety strategy.237 Another threat to the health of elderly prisoners is long-term abuse of substances, which is common amongst this population, as well as social and psychological issues related to ageing – such as managing the loss of a partner or friends. These additional needs generate financial burdens on already under-resourced prison systems. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, it costs twice as much to imprison someone over the age of 50 and in some cases, it may cost up to five times more when medical costs are added.239 There are clear and explicit international standards on justice for children which should apply in all contexts, including for children (allegedly) involved in terrorist or violent extremist offences. Children should be detained only as a measure of last resort, and there is growing evidence of the effectiveness of diverting children away from formal judicial proceedings – which should be done as much as possible. Elderly people The definition of when someone becomes ‘elderly’ is unclear, although consensus is emerging that, for prisoners, it is at around 50 years and over. This is because the prison environment itself is associated with an accelerated ageing process, with prisoners’ health status generally considered to be equivalent to that of people 10 years older in the general population. The world’s population is continuing to age: nearly every country in the world is experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older people in their population.229 In many countries, the proportion of elderly prisoners also follows this upward trend; at present, this has been identified mainly in high-income countries, although this may be a result of the availability of data. Across the European region, the proportion of the prison population who are over the age of 50 is an average of 11.7 per cent, ranging from 44 per cent in Lichtenstein to three per cent in Russia.230 In Japan, the number of prisoners aged 60 or older rose from seven per cent of the total prison population in 2008 to 19 per cent in 2016,231 and in Singapore, the number of prisoners over 60 doubled between 2012 and 2016.232 In the UK, the proportion of prisoners aged over 50 increased from seven per cent in 2002 to 16 per cent in March 2018.233 In a new publication on the issue, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) attributes the rise in elderly prisoners to lengthy The increase of elderly prisoners creates new and difficult challenges for prison authorities. Older people in prison face health conditions associated with the advancement of age, such as falls, increased frailty, dementia, incontinence and sensory impairment. A report on social care in jails in the UK highlighted some of the practical issues that can arise when caring for older prisoners: ‘Many older jails are ill-equipped for prisoners in wheelchairs, or with mobility problems. Some prisoners struggle to wash and look after themselves and others who have fallen cannot get help during the night.’238  Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice | Global Prison Trends 2019 Efforts have been made to specifically address the needs of older prisoners. In Japan, a new policy to detect dementia in prisoners will be rolled out in 2019 with the aim of detecting the condition at an early stage and providing treatment to ensure effective reintegration on release.240 The Singapore Prison Service has retrofitted some prison cells with senior-friendly features such as handrails.241 Prison officers in Scotland have been given training on how to work with people suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.242 In Kenya, an appeal court questioned the use of mandatory sentences for elderly people ‘as the compulsory sentences amounted to committing them to a slow death behind bars.’243 In some jurisdictions, there is the possibility for elderly prisons to be given early release on compassionate grounds; for example, in Cambodia prisoners over the age of 65 are | 25