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- 1. Elderly in Prison 1 Fault Lines: Dying Inside: Elderly in Prisons Richard W. Anderson American Public University System Professor Christopher Conley CMRJ316 12 June 2015
- 2. Elderly in Prisons 2 Abstract This paper discusses issues involved with the growing numbers of elderly inmates in American prisons. Prison populations have exploded due to enhanced sentences and a get tough on crime mentality pushed by legislators. However, with the current problems associated with jail and prison overcrowding, an aging prison population, and safety, just to name a few issues, many people are asking whether or not many inmates should be released for reasons of compassion, in that the elderly are more likely past the age of being a threat to society. Also, the cost to supporting the growing number of elderly in prisons is unaffordable, particularly in a failing economy. And, if prisoners are not to be released, improved accommodations to serve elderly inmates must be considered.
- 3. Elderly in Prisons 3 With the passing of get-tough-on-crime sentencing enhancements during the 1970s and 1980s, the result has been an increasing number of inmates today over the age of 55. These elderly inmates require more in the way of health care than their younger factions, which translates into higher costs to the tax payers in support of their needs. There is also a question as to whether most of this aging inmate population is any longer a threat to society, and releases with a sense of compassion is being considered by many. However, many family members of victims of violent crimes may be reluctant to release their associated offenders, regardless of how debilitated the inmate may be. Also, without economic prosperity bringing in enough tax dollars to fund our prison systems, proper treatment for the elderly and mentally ill inmates is falling short of affording adequate programs.
- 4. Elderly in Prisons 4 The video presentation from Fault Lines: Dying Inside: Elderly in Prison program graphically displays the problems dealing with America's aging prison population. Over the last several decades, enhancements in prison sentencing have created an explosion of inmates over age 55. Legislation demanding that 85% of a sentence be served before possibility for parole has left many prisons with overcrowding of the elderly (Fault Lines). From 2000 to 2009, the nation's overall prison population has increased by 16%, while the quantity of older inmates has increased by 79% (Williams, Stern, Mellow, Safer, & Greifinger, 2012, p. 1475). And with this aging population comes a much higher price to support each inmate; $70,000 per inmate annually as compared with about $25,000 for a young healthy inmate (Fault Lines). Because of a reduction in state budgets, facilities such as the Joseph Harp Correctional Center have to fall back on asking their 10,000 volunteers to provide even more continued help in serving the needs of the prisons; retired professionals and members of faith-based groups. Prisons are functioning in what's referred to as warehouse mode; where there is little effort placed into rehabilitation, and people are more or less stored in prison (Fault Lines). With regards to health care issues, one problem solving technique employed by Oklahoma's Dick Conner Correctional Center is to train inmates to take care of their disabled inmates. Seth Anderson is one such individual. Imprisoned for kidnapping, drug possession, and a firearms violation, Anderson now cares for his elderly inmate cohorts, and is of the mind that inmates such as Sherman Parker, a 100-year-old inmate, convicted of murder when he was 82, should be released because he is no longer a threat. However, the family members of the two women Parker killed years ago may have a different view, and who can blame them.
- 5. Elderly in Prisons 5 The Fishkill Correctional facility 70 miles north of New York City has approached their severely aged, physically and mentally impaired prison population by developing a unit designated for these inmates with special needs. With an average age of 63 years, and many suffering from Alzheimer's, this first-time televised unit has the appearance more of a hospital than an institution for criminals. Dr. Sottile, the creator of the special medical prison unit, attends these elderly patients, one of which has Huntington's Chorea; a physically debilitating muscular disease which gradually gets worse to the point of not being able swallow, and death. The underlying issues to the aging population in prisons, and how it relates to correctional management, may involve taking a closer look at the level of security actually needed for inmates over the age of 60, what each individual has learned over the years in the form of contributory prison functioning, and how they can be involved in a transition institution from criminal mentality to more hospice care functioning. A form of hospital-prison should be developed which requires less security, more hospital and nursing care apparatus, and more active inmate involvement in the running of the institution. If this is not possible, it is perhaps feasible that new requirements for becoming a correctional officer may have to include a degree in nursing care, or perhaps more medical staff being brought on board institutions in general. One solution to working with the growing numbers of the elderly in prisons could be to more closely combine a university education program along the lines of medical-correctional professionals. The medical-correctional professional could be created from a degree path in which students are required to learn both nursing and medical knowledge in general, as well as appropriate correctional facility requirements. Positive impacts could be a more knowledgeable correctional officer with compassion toward their clients, as well as creating thousands of new
- 6. Elderly in Prisons 6 jobs for the young professionals. According to Dr. Satcher, the U.S. surgeon general from 1998 to 2002, correctional personnel should not have to be specialists in dealing with the mentally ill (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011, p. 412), but perhaps Satcher underestimates the abilities of people to do well as both correctional officer and health care specialist. Also, a new type of architecture may be developed by budding designers in that field to serve the needs of the now all too common demented and physically debilitated inmates. The steps needed to implement such plans might include a positive and more compassionate mass media campaign toward our deranged citizens, as opposed to the fear-generated war on everyone mentality of today. New university programs as previously mentioned should be addressed in American think tanks, as well as further demilitarizing our current institutions, and reinstituting more programs for rehabilitation might help. In addition, because of the newer and younger inmates coming from street gangs, a push for education should be encouraged on a national level. Skeptics may point out that anyone who breaks the law should be terminated from civil society and face the obscene world of prison incarceration for decades; growing older, more physically and mentally debilitated by the day, and endures the metamorphosis into a decrepit crippled creature that once resembled a human being. But that sort of thinking comes from the sadistic nature of the frightened and ignorant anal retentive people who created punishments such as the cat-o-nine tails with fish hooks, burning alive at the stake, the rack, and the publicly viewed use of the guillotine. Positive compassionate responses to all of our nation's problems should be given higher priority than brutal thinking; but in the face of calamity, many people simply do not think clearly, and look for revenge as opposed to treatment. Aging to the point of
- 7. Elderly in Prisons 7 a drawn out diseased, mental, and physical collapse within prison walls appears to be one of the more gruesome ways to live out one's winter years.
- 8. Elderly in Prisons 8 References Fault Lines: Dying Inside: Elderly in Prisons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvqj8hgxRfg Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J.O. (2011). Corrections in the 21st century sixth edition, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Williams, Brie A,M.D., M.S., Stern, Marc F,M.D., M.P.H., Mellow, J., PhD., Safer, M., M.P.H., & Greifinger, R. B., M.D. (2012). Aging in correctional custody: Setting a policy agenda for older prisoner health care. American Journal of Public Health, 102(8), 1475-1481. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1039281438?accountid=8289