Why our jails struggle to handle ‘oldies’ like Ivan Milat

We have more prisoners and they're living longer
Jocelyn Wright

Last month, one of Australia’s serial killers resurfaced.

His once-thick black handlebar moustache was now wispy and white, and there were cuffs chaining him by the ankle to his wheelchair.

But Ivan Milat, the backpacker killer who murdered seven people, had briefly emerged beyond the prison walls.

He was leaving Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital where he’d been treated for stomach and throat cancer.