THE CONTINUING PROBLEM OF AMERICA’S AGING PRISON POPULATION
AND THE SEARCH FOR A COST-EFFECTIVE AND SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE MEANS OF ADDRESSING IT
https://elderlyrelease.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/eldercost-pdf-curtin.pdf
Timothy Curtin
intro
The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in
the world with more than 2.1 million inmates,6 about 10% of whom
are over fifty-five years-of-age.7 Fifty-five is a critical age; at first
glance it seems too young to be characterized as “elderly,” but prisoners
are an unusual group.8 Unsurprisingly, prison inmates often have
a history of drug and alcohol abuse.9 If an inmate comes from an impoverished
background, he may have had only limited access to
health care prior to incarceration.10 Along with the rigors of prison
life, these factors give many inmates a physiological age ten to fifteen
years older than their contemporaries.11 Most of the literature that
considers the health-damaging effects of prison life in combination
with the lifestyle and poor health care of many inmates prior to incarceration
suggests that age fifty-five or even fifty be considered elderly
for prisoners.
Timothy Curtin is Articles Editor 2007–2008, Member 2006–2007, The Elder Law Journal;
J.D. 2008, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; B.A. 1996, Loyola University
of Chicago, Political Science and Economics
