THE increase in the age of criminal responsibility is a welcome, if long overdue, step. More children appear before a children’s hearing through harm caused to them rather than by them. It’s a pity the Government didn’t commit to raising the age further in the near future. Child neglect, not child offending, is the real crisis.

Moreover, the significant drop in the number of young men detained at Polmont Young Offenders Institution is testimony to the benefits of early intervention over many years. Supporting parents and tackling neglect have reduced harm caused by young people who almost invariably have themselves suffered.

It does, though, mean that those remaining tend to be the most challenged and challenging for the Scottish Prison Service to deal with; at least they have greater time and space to work with them in addressing underlying issues. Facilities and staff to address lack of educational attainment, drug or alcohol issues and violence all exist, and many have exemplary skills.

However, the challenge for the Prison Service, as with other aspects of our society, is going to be at the other end of the age spectrum. Reflecting society generally, the service has an increasing elderly population.

The numbers aged over 65 in custody had increased from 88 in 2010/11 to 152 by 0ctober of this year. The numbers in age categories below that have similarly grown, with 60 to 64-year-olds up from 92 to 136 and 55 to 59-year-olds from 150 to 265.

All of this is at a time when the prison population showed a slight decline, mainly due to a reduction in young offender numbers. As the years pass, it will no longer be troubled young men but convicted old men who’ll pose more issues for our prisons.

Some are doing lengthy sentences and, as they move through the age categories, they will simply add to the pressures. Moreover, many are in for crimes of historical sexual abuse. As the unearthed scandals in football have shown, there is much more to be exposed of a very dark past in our society. It’s going to result in more being prosecuted and some receiving prison sentences.

Many will be quite elderly, given the period of time since their crimes were committed. However, age cannot be a “get-out-of-jail” card. As a former Lord Advocate whom I deeply respect once said to me, they took someone’s childhood and are forfeiting their old age; harsh it might be but punished they must be.

Society, never mind the victims, would expect no less. Their crimes will have been abominable and the breach of trust in abusing a child when in a position of authority is a severely aggravating factor.

However, prisons and prison officers are already struggling to cope with the geriatrics in their care. Given the judgmental attitudes in prison life, protecting them due to the nature of their offending as well as their infirmity will be necessary.

That can be extremely challenging in a contained environment where some angry young men would love to punish the dirty old men, as they would see it. Separate wings for their safety exist but it isn’t easy for staff.

Moreover, I recall the sad, though slightly humorous, complaints that they couldn’t be doubled up to share a cell, given rheumatism or arthritis that precluded one from climbing onto the top bunk.

Prison Service staff do an outstanding job but they are not geriatric or psychiatric nurses. They’re struggling to cope with inmates they aren’t trained to deal with and in facilities that aren’t suitable for them.

So, there will have to be some new thinking and, fortunately, prisons inspectorate is doing just that. Some offenders may reach an age and frailty where electronic tagging is sufficient and their freedom is deprived, either in their home or a specialised care environment.

Others who are slightly younger or more physically able will still require custodial facilities. But, whether for bunks or showers, our prisons, no matter how new they are, are inappropriate. Given the limited capacities of many and the lower level of security required for most, it’s time to think anew.

Perhaps buying a care home and adding some modest security measures would be a better option than trying to care within one of our existing institutions.

Many young prisoners, male not just female, will have been victims of abuse. Violent young men were abused by depraved old men. A culture of denial hid it and, for many, their pain is articulated in anti-social behaviour. Big boys may not cry but it harms them all the same.

Prisons reflect society in many ways, not just as regards age. It’s time to look anew at our prisons, for young as well as old.