The Pros And Cons Of Aging Prisons

During the early years of the corrections system society believed that individuals imprisoned lost all civil rights (Schmalleger, & Smykla, 2015). However, over time the deplorable conditions of prisons and changes in accepted societal views affected judicial views towards the prison system. Accordingly, the 1940’s through the 1980’s was a period of modifications of correction facilities practices regarding prisoners’ rights. Subsequently, after numerous court proceedings, prisoners began gaining incarceration rights via the United States Constitution, federal statutes, state constitutions, and state statutes. Additionally, each prisoner is afforded the right to institutional order, protection, security, and the right to restoration under the

Consequently, certain statistical calculations imply that in the next ten years the elderly will constitute a third of inmates (Schmalleger, & Smykla, 2015). These aging inmates require less strenuous programs, specific physical and medical requirements, and institutional placement which is costly. So, there are proponents of moving elderly inmates into geriatric facilities, which would meet legal standards and the special needs of older inmates. Likewise, another program necessary for aging prisoners is the availability of hospice programs for offenders who are dying. The only other option in this regard is to release inmates that are dying, but that might create its own societal concerns. Moreover, the natural health concerns of aging prisoners compound the problem in an already crowded and struggling

Although outside state agencies would incur the cost of these prisoner’s release, outside geriatric intuitions specialize in that area, which would reduce overall financial concerns (Habes, 2011). Additionally, the ability to focus facility programs on general population age without special programs would cut prison costs as well. Moreover, these elderly offenders are less likely to re-offend due to their age and medical problems. Therefore, the lack of recidivism, reduction of the financial burden, and the propensity to reduce prison overcrowding it is possible that the selective release of elderly inmates is one way to deal with current corrections problems. The legal and financial requirements of an aging prison population further exacerbate the prison overcrowding problem. Although correctional facilities attempt to provide uniform and legally required medical, educational, recreational, and housing resources for elderly prisoners, their requirements challenge the legality of these institutions. For example, bringing every correctional facility to the required American with Disability Act (ADA) standards would likely break every state corrections budget (Psick, Simon, Brown, & Ahalt, 2017). Therefore, the idea of segregating elderly prisoners into a facility that is ADA compliant, has a staff