The aim of prison health care in Great Britain is to provide inmates with access to the same range and quality of services that the general public receives from the National Health Service; this must include appropriate health services for elderly inmates. In an effort to achieve this goal for elderly inmates, the Elderly Lifer Unit at Her Majesty's Prison Norwich was planned in 2003. The unit was designed with 15 single cells for elderly inmates with healthcare needs who are serving life sentences. The planning envisioned that the unit would provide nursing/residential healthcare services for the unit residents. Trained nurses, healthcare assistants, and healthcare officers staff the unit. Medical supervision is provided by the medical officer/general practitioner, and visiting specialists are brought in as needed. Services respect inmates' privacy and dignity, enable older inmates to make informed choices by involving them in decisions about their needs and care, and provide coordinated and integrated services. The current profiles of the unit's residents show that all have multiple health problems that would require nursing home/residential home accommodation if they were not in prison. In 2004, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons published a review of older inmates in England and Wales. Key recommendations for the national strategy focus on a phased program of providing sufficient suitable and accessible accommodation for elderly inmates in each prison. Given the costs that would be required, it may be appropriate to provide a smaller number of specialist units strategically located within the prison system rather than having a full-service unit in each prison. 7 references