Seniors behind bars

Aging inmates pose problems in prison. What can you do with inmates for which society has no place? In Bostadel, the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Zug are now making a new pioneering attempt to deal with this problem.

His left hand clutches the black walking stick. Josef C.* limps along the corridor. He has to empty his pockets by the metal detector: he places the keyring and his asthma spray in the container, and the warden returns his possessions to him a short time later. C. is breathing heavily. Every step is a torment. He wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, the drops of sweat falling onto his grey T-shirt.

For the interview, Josef C. was allowed to leave his job at the Bostadel prison in Menzingen. A welcome change for him. In the meeting room, he sits down awkwardly on the wooden chair, placing his walking stick within reach. He strokes through the short grey hair, plucks his beard under the mask. "What do you want to know?" he asks curiously.

Almost 20 years in the institution
The municipality of Menzingen is about a 20-minute drive from Zug. It takes a few minutes more before you see the fortress-like building directly on the border with the Canton of Zurich. Bostadel, the prison of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Zug, and home to 120 dangerous criminals.

Josef C. has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century. "I’ve been in Bostadel since 3rd April 2002," he says. He remembers the date very well. He committed several sexual offences in the 1970s and 1980s, and was imprisoned several times. Psychiatrists attested to his paedophile tendencies, as well as psychopathic traits. According to media reports, C. allegedly raped and abused more than a dozen children and women. In some cases, the courts even saw an intention to kill.

One of 19 long-term inmates of Bostadel
C. is now 70 years old. He has long since served his prison sentence, but, as the psychiatrists continue to consider him dangerous, despite his age, he will be kept here until the end of his life. He is one of 19 long-term detainees held in Bostadel prison. And he is one of those prisoners who suffer from prison conditions due of their advanced age and poor health.

Bostadel Prison in Menzingen
Picture: Stefan Kaiser

"I have chronic arthrosis, diabetes, liver and kidney insufficiency, the COPD lung disease and high blood pressure," he says, quite frankly. The Bostadel prison is equipped for such a case, and the management has made an exception for C.: for some time now, a blue badge has been dangling from his keychain, with which he can use the lift, which is actually reserved for employees.

"But in general, prisoners have to be able to walk up stairs, they have to work and clean," explains prison director Andreas Gigon. There’s no retirement age in prison. "In order to maintain the daily structure, prisoners under normal detention have to carry out regular work," says Gigon.

The detainees are also becoming older
As Swiss society ages, this development is also evident in prison. More and more detainees are older than 60, says Gigon:

"When I started here in 2008, we had one prisoner who was older than  60. There are now more than ten of therm."

This means that there will also be an increase in the number of people in need of care in prison. But the Swiss institutions are not designed for this. This is another reason why the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Zug are now planning to expand the Bostadel institution. The Zug Parliament gave its blessing this week, after the Grand Council (Grosse Rat) had already unanimously approved the planning costs.

Doubling in a double sense
The refurbishment is expected to cost the canton of Basel-City almost CHF 38 million: Bostadel is three-quarters owned by the city canton. A large part of the expenditure will be spent on a project that is unique in Switzerland: Bostadel will become the first prison with a department for elderly and long-term inmates. The new building will create 20 new places for the elderly and long-term custodians between the normal confinement area, which was opened in 1977, and the sports field. This will increase the capacity of the Bostadel prison, which has been loaded up to 98% for years.

The cells of the detainees in the new department will also be twice as large: While Josef C. and his fellow inmates currently occupy an area of 9 square metres each, they will then have 18 square metres. A luxury prison, then? Gigon shakes his head: "We are depriving these people of the highest good, freedom. 18 square metres is not much when you're locked into it for a lifetime." The renovation is also necessary because today's cells no longer comply with the legal requirements.

Incarcerated: 18 inmates per floor
The heavy iron door locks behind us. As high as the room, turquoise green and several centimetres thick, it prevents the prisoners entering the endless corridors. The prisoners are locked up In the evening, 18 of them per floor. They can brew tea or a soup from the bag in a small kitchen. They are allowed to use the dark corridors between dinner and their night's sleep,. But they have to spend several hours in their own cell. Bed, table, washbasin, wardrobe, toilet. Here, too there is a heavy iron door, this time simply in orange. An oppressive feeling arises, one’s view goes beyond the thick iron bars out of the window. Outside to the forest, the fields and the other areas of the prison.

Josef C. has arranged himself. His neighbouring cellmates help him with cleaning, and the health care system works well, he says.

"Before, I was never at home anywhere. This is the first time I've had that feeling."

C. doesn’t know whether he will love to experience the move to the new building, sleep in a larger room and stretch his legs in the planned park. He’d like to see the new section. "But I'm under no illusions anymore."

* Name changed by the editor.