As the inmate population ages, dementia will become increasingly common in our jails and prisons. In the community, the rate of new cases of dementia is expected to double in the next four decades. Although we don’t really know what the prevalence of dementia is among inmates, there is no reason to think it is less than in the community.
In fact, there is reason to think it may be two to three times more frequent in corrections than in the community: Inmates have fewer protective factors and more risk factors; increasing numbers are being incarcerated into late age or for life; and inmates may grow physiologically older faster than people in the community due to high risk lifestyles and poor health care prior to incarceration. Base rates for serious mental disorders are two to four times greater in corrections than in the community. Dementia is unlikely to be an exception.
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