Elderly In Prison Analysis

It is right for an elderly person to spend years to even a lifetime in prison? Apparently it seems appropriate to the United States. The elderly inmates are increasing rapidly as well as the cost of their health care. They become a burden in the prison's budget in addition to the citizens of this country. Many of these inmates are past 60 years old and dream of dying after being freed, however end up taking their last breath in a prison cell. Hill, Stella and Parker are examples of elderly in prison who are highly ill and continue to take more and more money while being incarceration under their conditions.

Plutarcho Hill is 86 years old. Hill was charged with murder at the young age of 20, and sentenced with life. Sixty six years of

his life he has gone to waste in jail. He has escaped from prison 10 times but still keeps coming back. He has been living a miserable life behind bars. He believes that elderly people are harmless and should have more considerations. The older Plutarcho gets, the bigger his financial needs become. Hills behavior, mental illnesses, functional disabilities and major diseases can also add to his needs. Hill will never make it out of jail alive. Meaning the longer he stays alive, the more the state has to pay.

Stella, 60 year old convicted killer.

She has been behind bars for 13 years. She claims for her situation to be a “Kill or Get Kill” situation. She describes herself as a survivor. Not only is this affecting Stella but it also affects her family. She discuss how hard is to give her grandchildren a reason for committing the crime. Stella is having mental problems and suffering from many illnesses. Not be able to be with her family when and where she desires affects her health. Stella expectations of coming out of prison soon are very high.

Sherman Parker, 100 year’s old prisoner missing one leg. He is being taken care of by another prisoner who has been trained. Sherman is serving 2 life sentences for killing 2 women when he was 82 years old. Parker has no chances of coming out of prison. Parker thinks he should be out of jail in the farm where he grew up. The pay for Parker will be up to 100,000 a year to even more. His age and disabilities makes him need more attention, and someone to help him do his

needs.
George Sanges, currently serving a 15 at Men’s State Prison in Georgia has a cerebral palsy and must take plenty of medications during the day. The longer he’s in there, the worst he gets. Sanges entered in prison in 2005 for aggravated assault against his wife who was 48 years old. It hasn't been easy taking care of George, while in prison his illness hasn't improve a bit, instead it gets worst. While in prison he started having heart problems. He was rushed twice to the hospital in less than a month; he was diagnosed with a heart disease. The cost of medication for George will keep increasing yearly until he is released from prison.

Of the 5,018 inmates at Angola, 90% will die in state custody. Cost for an elderly inmate is $69,000 a year, compared with a national average of 22,000. In many states, their budget is being highly affected by this. The cost of medicine, health care, and mostly doctors they need to pay to take care of patients. Some states might let some o the older prisoners out, to put them in homes. Some homes don't want to take those responsibilities and the ones who do are highly expensive. Others, just feel like their life might be at a high level of risk.
These increased healthcare costs, combined with the growing number of elderly inmates, are driving key decision makers to find solutions. One way to contain these costs is to build a menu with heart healthy, cost effective options. Since good nutrition lowers the risk for many chronic diseases, including heart disease and stroke, providing the prison population with a menu that includes heart healthy items is key.
Not only is this wasteful, it’s inhumane. We keep the elderly locked up in the face of undisputed research showing that committing crimes drops dramatically with age. Department of Justice statistics show that prisoners 55 or older recidivate at a rate of just 2 percent. Additional studies have shown that there is virtually no recidivism for individuals age 60 or older. It’s clear that it’s senseless to spend exorbitant amounts of money to imprison elderly people who pose no threat to public safety.
As a matter of common sense, states should allow these individuals the right to a hearing before a parole board to present their case for release. If they are no longer threats to public safety, there is no reason for them to be incarcerated. Clearly there are better alternatives to wasting huge sums of money keeping elderly inmates in prison for the rest of their natural lives, even when it is clear they no longer pose a threat to the general public.
The number of US state and federal prisoners age 65 or over grew at 94 times the rate of the total prison population between 2007 and 2010.

65 or older increased by 63 percent. There are now 26,200 prisoners age 65 or older. The number of US state and federal prisoners age 55 or older nearly quadrupled between 1995 and 2010, growing by 282 percent, while total number of prisoners grew by less than half, 42 percent. There are now 124,400 prisoners age 55 or older. As of 2010, 8 percent of the prisoner population was 55 or older, compared with 3 percent in 1995. The proportion of prisoners age 55 and over varied among individual states from 4.2 percent in Connecticut to 9.9 percent in Oregon. Fourteen percent of federal prisoners are age 51 or older. Statistics prove that the amount of elderly in prison keeps increasing. And keeps getting huge, and states must pay for them.

Having elderly in prison does not only affect the prisoner. It also affects the budget for the state. In my opinion, elderly should not be in prison after a specific age. After you have completed a certain time of punishment, you should be released. Hill, Stella and Parker should be individuals who have already completed a valid sentenced and should be considered according to their mental problems and disabilities. Today, many elderly are in prison and have problems taking care of themselves. Meanwhile, the state has to pay extra money for any problem a prisoner might have especially if it’s an

elderly.