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Aging inmates present prison crisis
By Patrick McMahon States already feeling money pinch must deal with costs of caring for elderly convicts. Death is a little sweeter now for some inmates at the Louisiana State Prison at Angola, which once was called the ''bloodiest prison in America.'' In a state where a ''life sentence'' means just that, officials at Angola are determined to provide ''death with dignity'' for inmates. There is a hospice for the terminally ill. No one dies alone. Since 1998, a glass-enclosed hearse, made by prisoners and drawn by two horses, carries bodies to the prison cemetery in handmade coffins. Inmates walk behind, singing Amazing Grace. Of the 5,018 inmates at Angola -- 115 miles northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi River -- 90% will die in state custody, says Angola's warden, Burl Cain. That's a result of longer and mandatory sentences in recent years, with limited parole opportunities. ''Inmates are getting older and more feeble, and the medical costs are going up,'' Cain says. As states try to cope with the growing costs of prisons during tight financial times, one expensive problem sticks out: older, sick and dying inmates. And the crisis is only expected to grow. It is a huge problem for state governments that are cash-strapped, says Ronald Aday, author of the 2003 book Aging Prisoners: Crisis in American Corrections. ''In addition to health care issues, work assignments, co-payments, nutritional requirements, concerns for victimization, end of life issues and appropriate staffing are concerns that will have to be addressed,'' he says. ''The task is a daunting one.'' State approaches vary Prisons have long had elderly inmates, but aging baby boomers behind bars signal new challenges for states. In 2002, there were 120,933 prisoners 50 and over in the nation's prisons, more than double the number in 1992, says the Criminal Justice Institute of Middleton, Conn. That is 8.6% of inmates, up from 5.7% in 1992. ''When considering dangerous, violent and predatory inmates, one does not usually envision an elderly man hobbling down a prison corridor with a cane or walker,'' a new institute report for the Justice Department says. ''However, in reality, some of the most dangerous and/or persistent criminals sentenced to life in prison without parole 30 years ago are now old, debilitated, frail, chronically ill, depressed and no longer considered a threat to society or the institution,'' the report says. States are responding in different ways. Some have wings or units just for older prisoners. Others have entire geriatric prisons. Many have hospices. Some make greater use of medical parole and early release, and some are saving space for more cemeteries. Each state approaches its elderly inmates differently, says Joann Morton, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina. Some are careful to monitor every inmate over age 50. Others provide no special programs or treatment beyond that available to all inmates. A 2001 summary in Corrections Compendium, a journal of the American Corrections Institute, found in a survey of 46 states that: * Sixteen maintain separate facilities to house older inmates. In 2000, Florida opened a work camp for 378 able-bodied inmates, mostly older than 50. It is on the grounds of the Florida State Hospital at Chattahoochee. As of May 31, Florida had 7,636 inmates ages 50 and over, an increase of 12% from the year before. * Many states have medical treatment, including annual physicals, special diets and exercise programs, for older inmates. In Texas, the state comptroller reported in 2000 that 200 of its 1,159 inmates older than 65 required around-the-clock skilled nursing care. Nebraska offers nursing-home living for some inmates, the report says, and Oklahoma considers some of its older inmates open to exploitation and puts them in single-person cells. * Forty-one offer some kind of early release for older inmates, depending on health. Early release, however, remains limited in some states. * Many states offer hospice care for dying inmates, says Fleet Maull, founder of the National Prison Hospice Association in Boulder, Colo. He predicts that every state will offer hospice care within five years. A report by the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst's Office says elderly inmates cost two to three times more to care for than do younger ones. It notes that the National Center of Institutions and Alternatives estimates incarceration costs for an elderly inmate are $69,000 a year, compared with a national average of $22,000 for all inmates. This year, with California facing major financial problems, the analyst's office recommended releasing more non-violent seniors to parole, but the Legislature didn't go along. Dying in prison Many older inmates die in prison without any family or friends to pay for a funeral or burial. As a result, corrections officials often become funeral directors, cemetery operators and grief counselors in addition to health care providers. At Angola, Cain says 34 inmates died there last year, and 10 of them were buried at the prison cemetery. He has opened a prison hospice that serves eight to 10 inmates at a time. It gets high marks from hospice experts -- this at a prison that was called ''the bloodiest prison in America'' in the early 1970s because of its high number of inmate-on-inmate deaths. Although groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have concerns about the way Angola is run, Warden Cain also gets praise. Al Shapiro, president of the Louisiana ACLU chapter, says, ''We have our differences, but I don't doubt his compassion for sick and dying inmates.'' Cain says, ''I always remember the victims, but I can't help the ones that are in the grave. Maybe I can do something for ones we have here.'' Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
