|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
Elderly inmates cost state up to $70,000 a year
apiece ST. GABRIEL, La. (AP) — The
number of older inmates in Louisiana prisons is growing rapidly — and
with it, the cost of keeping them.
Ailments common to the
middle-aged and elderly mean their care can cost up to $70,000 a year
apiece, more than double the cost for younger inmates. Seventy-five-year-old Albert
Wilson's left side has been paralyzed for nearly four decades, since a
stroke in 1965. He'd been in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola
for five years, and says he'd been behind bars for the previous 13. He has been in the Elayne Hunt
Correctional Center in St. Gabriel for about two years, sent in an
exchange of older inmates for younger, more dangerous inmates. The Pardon Board recommended
Wilson's release in in 1966 and 1983, but the governors did not accept
those recommendations. "I'm going to let it
go," said Wilson, who walks with a cane and speaks only from the
right side of his mouth because of the stroke. "It ain't no use. I
put my mind on staying here." He's among more than 630 state
inmates over age 50 who are serving life sentences in state facilities,
prison officials say. Of the roughly 3,800 state
inmates serving life sentences, 1,200 are between 40 and 49 years old. So
in 10 years or less, they will be at least 50 — classified by the state
as geriatric inmates. The state Department of
Corrections also expects the general prison population to grow 15 percent
by 2012, from 36,523 inmates in 2002 to about 42,000. Those expectations are prompted
in part by 1990s "truth-in-sentencing" laws and a high crime
rate. The growth can only increase the overall medical costs and the
graying prison population as well. Hunt appears to be the
destination for many older lifers, said C.M. Lensing, warden of the prison
in Iberville Parish. Its 2,100 inmates include 85
serving life sentences, and 44 of those are older than 50. Lensing said
that number has risen recently and is expected to grow in the near future. "I've gotten more lifers
in the last year and a half than we have in the last 20 years,"
Lensing said. Cynthia Mara, associate
professor of health-care administration and policy at Penn State
University in Harrisburg, Pa., has studied aging inmates. The older prison
population is a side effect of harsher sentencing laws aimed at ending
early release for many inmates, she said. "It was not intended with
these laws that there would be older inmates who need long-term
care," Mara said. The state pays about $30,000 a
year to care for the average inmate. Some of those at Hunt are "fast
approaching" $70,000 annually, Lensing said. Statewide, the Department of
Corrections budgeted about $34 million — roughly 11.6 percent — of its
budget for inmate health services in fiscal year 2002-03. Since the state must pay the
entire bill for inmates not eligible for Medicare and other federal health
programs, "It's going to cost us, and it's only going to get
worse," said state Sen. Don Cravins, D-Arnaudville. Cravins, who chairs the Senate
committee overseeing the Department of Corrections, said more money is
needed for inmate health care before legal problems arise. Dr. Mike Hegmann, medical
director at Hunt Correctional Center, agrees. "If you're going to
take away somebody's freedom, you've got to take care of them,"
Hegmann said. State Rep. Steve Scalise,
R-Metairie, an outspoken opponent of more services for inmates, said
prisoners have better health care than "our law-abiding
citizens." "I still think there is
room, within legal limits, to reduce these benefits," Scalise said.
"That will save us millions of dollars, especially among older
prisoners, while allowing us to keep criminals in jail." While they are in prison,
inmates must work as long as they are able, Lensing said. In some cases, accommodations
are made because of the prisoner's age or health, he said. That's the case with Wilson,
who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. The killing occurred in a
domestic argument in DeRidder. Wilson spends parts of his days
dying boots for other inmates at Hunt and the rest of his time in a
dorm-style room with a few dozen other prisoners. Some inmates, as they grow
older, require special considerations, such as a head start to the
cafeteria and indoor jobs, said Angela Whittaker, executive management
officer at Hunt. The aging lifers are a minority
in the prison — most of the inmates o are either just arriving in prison
or are awaiting release. That combination creates
generational friction between the older inmates and their younger
counterparts, said William Cribbs, 76, serving life for killing a West
Baton Rouge bar operator during a 1972 holdup. "They got no respect, for
themselves or anybody else," said Cribbs, who has had four heart
attacks while in prison. Albert Vierling, 71, said
younger inmates are still angry and haven't accepted that they are
incarcerated for their own wrongdoing. He'd rather be kept away from
the new arrivals or the inmates about to leave prison. "We're not going
home," Vierling said. "According to the state, we're going to
die in prison." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
