Jailbirds at a prison in northern Sweden are threatening to strike, after authorities moved a 78 year-old incontinent man onto their block. According to a report by news programme TV4 Nyheterna Umea, the inmates at Sorby Prison were less than impressed when the man, who walks with a frame and wears an adult nappy and a catheter, was introduced as their new neighbour. The say the frail pensioner requires specialist care and should not be housed at the facility.
“He does not feel good and we think that it is awful to see an old man treated in this way after all he has done for society,” an inmate said in an interview with the news channel. “If needs be, we will refuse to be locked in our cells in order for him to get better help,” he added.
According to the news programme, the man was sent to Sorby Prison after assaulting a police officer while in a confused state at the nursing home where he lived. Had he been another two years older, he could have appealed for mercy, say TV4.
The sentencing court has apparently responded to the prisoners’ pleas by saying the elderly man was incarcerated for good reason.