Deaths in Prison Custody in Scotland 2012-2022

7. Deaths in custody by age

As described above, the age profile of the average daily prison population has changed over time. The long term trend is a decline in the number of young people and younger adults, while the number of people aged 35 and above has been increasing. In line with these patterns, the average age of individuals experiencing imprisonment is increasing. The average age of prisoners has increased from 31.8 years in 2010-11 to 36.9 years in 2021-22. The increase in people aged 55 and older is particularly notable, as the proportion of prisoners aged 55 or over has more than doubled in the last decade rising from 3.5% to 8.1%.

The age profile of people who died in custody between 2012-13 and 2021-22 is shown in Figure 8. The single largest number of deaths occurred in the ‘55+ years’ age group (96), followed by ‘45-54 years’ (79).

Rate of death in custody by age

Figure 9 shows rates of death per 1,000 average daily population by age group. While there is a degree of fluctuation, the rate of death per 1,000 average daily population has remained low for the youngest age groups (16-44 years collectively) over the time period covered by the data. The rate of death per 1,000 average daily population has been substantially higher for the older age groups, with noticeable spikes in the rates for 2020-21 (55+ years group) and 2021-22 (45-54 years group). As stated above, these are years impacted by the Covid pandemic.

Figure 10 shows the rate of death per 1,000 individuals experiencing imprisonment over the same time period. The pattern observed is broadly similar to that of the rate per 1,000 average daily population.