Between 1999 and 2008, the latest year statistics were available, the rate of prisoners fifty-five years of age or older has grown 76%, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The jump from 43,000 to 76,400 older prisoners far exceeds the overall 18% growth rate for all prisoners. And the ACLU reports that the price of incarcerating an elderly prisoner is approximately $72,000 a year, while the cost of incarcerating someone younger is around $24,000.
In Washington state, a prisoner over the age of 50 is considered elderly. To house inmates in that category Washington opened a small 74-bed assisted living facility on the grounds of the Coyote Ridge Correctional Center in February 2010. To be considered for this facility, a prisoner must have a disability and be classified as a minimum security risk. Although the average age at the facility is 59, younger disabled prisoners mingle with octogenarians. Most of the men in the assisted living facility have been convicted of serious crimes and have received long sentences. That is the reason that the average age of prisoners is rising, not because the elderly are part of a geriatric crime wave.
The higher cost of incarcerating older prisoners is due to medical problems, and factoring in the price of medication, surgery, mobility enhancing devices such as walkers and wheel chairs, hospital beds, and the medical staff to oversee the patients. The Vera institute discovered that laws that would release elderly or disabled prisoners are being overlooked due to political concerns. Releasing prisoners early is not popular among most voters.
According to an August 16, 2010 article by Nicholas K. Geranios for The Detroit News, David C. Fahti, who directs the ACLU National Prison Project, visited the facility and declared that it looked like , “a nursing home with razor wire.” Fahti added, “We’re reaping the fruits of bad public policy like Three Strikes laws and other mandatory minimum sentencing laws. One in 11 prisoners are serving a life sentence.” To the elderly, that statistic is all too real.
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