OUR CODGER CONS

Talk of a geriatric prison might conjure up a humorous image in some minds.
"Grumpy Old Men" meets "Cool Hand Luke." Sun City with cells, where codger
cons sit on the porch gumming their Melba toast and prison gruel, waxing
nostalgic for the old days before criminality went to hell in a handbasket.

But dealing with codger cons, as well as those who are disabled or infirm,
is a serious and growing issue faced by Oklahoma Department of Corrections
officials.

There are about 400 inmates in the Oklahoma corrections system, among an
inmate population of 20,000, who are 60 years old or older. That number is
expected to grow, due to a couple of factors.

One is the state's life-without-parole law. It gives juries the option of
sentencing convicted murderers to life in prison without any hope of parole.
Unlike most of those who receive death sentences or conventional life terms
with the possibility of parole after 15 years or so, life-without-parole
inmates face the prospect of old age behind bars. There are 339 no-parole
inmates in Oklahoma prisons and juries' preference for that sentence, as an
alternative to death, appears to be growing; yearly no-parole receptions
into the system have increased, almost without exception, since
life-without-parole was approved by the Legislature in 1989.

Life-without-parole is less than a decade old and most violent crimes are
committed by young men. So the law's impact on the elderly inmate population
will not begin to be felt for another 15 or 20 years.

Oklahoma's new truth-in-sentencing law also will eventually affect the
number of elderly inmates. One of the aims of the law is to lengthen time
served for serious offenses. Achieving that end will result in a prison
population that is somewhat older than the current average age of 35 years.
Based on legislative wrangling over truth in sentencing during the past two
sessions, the law is a work in progress; its impact won't be known until
lawmakers finally work out all the details.

Another complicating factor: The usual age-related health problems faced by
older people are often exacerbated in prison inmates by their early,
unhealthy lifestyles, which in a majority of cases include alcohol and drug
abuse.

Convicts essentially become wards of the state when they enter prison, and
their health care becomes the responsibility of the state. Elderly, disabled
and infirm inmates currently are scattered among the state's penal
institutions. The corrections department spends about $2.2 million a year to
transport those in need of medical care to two state-operated health
facilities -- Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman and University Hospital in
Oklahoma City.

In addition, there is some debate as to whether the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which requires certain physical accommodations --
wheelchair ramps and the like -- for the disabled applies to prisons. Even
if it doesn't, state prisons are obligated to provide for inmates in a
humane manner.

Together these factors argue for a special prison for geriatric, disabled
and infirm inmates. Corrections officials propose construction of a 380-bed
medium- and maximum-security facility at Lexington. The facility, which
would cost an estimated $18.7 million to build and $6.5 million a year to
operate, would include 250 beds for geriatric, disabled and infirm; a 50-bed
infirmary for post- operative and other health care, and an 80-bed transit
unit where inmates from throughout the system could be housed for transport
to hospitals.

The proposed facility would be part of the Joseph Harp Correctional Center,
a medium-security prison at Lexington. It would be within a mile of the
Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, which is the first stop for
inmates into the system, and close to the hospitals at Norman and Oklahoma
City.

Providing health care for inmates, who are not covered by medical insurance,
is an expensive proposition -- more than $1 million a year. It will become
increasingly so as the number of codger cons grows.

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"