GERIATRICS IN JUMPSUITS

State needs to address aging in prisons to save money North Carolina has a
problem with old people and prisons: There are increasing numbers of the
former in the latter.

Because of longer sentences, especially for drug-related crimes, more often
people approach retirement age while sporting orange jumpsuits.

According to a 2006 report on aging in N.C. prisons, the 50 years-and-older
group was the fastest growing age bracket in our inmate population. While
the total number of inmates has increased by 16 percent in the past five
years, the elderly incarcerated population has jumped 61 percent.

This seems to signify a couple of things. First, that increasingly our
criminal justice system keeps people behind bars long after they commit a
crime. Perhaps it is not accomplishing much rehabilitation and instead is
focusing more on sequestering a segment of the population.

Second, that soon our prisons will need to house geriatric wards. And this
is not just a problem in North Carolina. Nationally, the number of elderly
inmates also has increased.

This is a burden on the state financially, not just because of the
ever-growing need for cell space but also because medical and mental health
care for elderly inmates costs about three times as much as that for
prisoners in younger age brackets.

The sad part is that the elderly poor probably receive more comprehensive
health care within the prison system than outside its walls. It might
actually be a worse punishment to send them out to tackle the Medicaid and
Medicare systems - which is a commentary on those systems, and not an
appeal to punish elderly inmates more harshly.

But as the inmate population ages, taxpayers will be spending increasing
amounts of money on prostate exams, insulin pills and the like unless the
state addresses the problem soon.

One possible solution is to shorten sentences for non-violent crimes, but
because no politician seeking re-election wants to be branded as being
against the "War on Drugs," this is not a likely scenario.

A fix that N.C. officials have proposed is to release terminally ill,
low-risk elderly inmates to hospices, while placing other elderly prisoners
or prisoners with disabilities in secure private facilities.

Rather than supporting an aging population in prisons, a small number of
secure nursing homes could care for all elderly inmates. This consolidation
would reduce the total number of doctors and medical staff needed and would
reduce the state's expenditures.

In a system where we already have prison overcrowding and a total inmate
population of 37,000 people, we can't afford to maintain disjoint geriatric
care in prisons across the state.

In fact, other cost-cutting measures in the criminal justice system
probably will be necessary with a tight state budget this year. Improving
efficiency in the care for aging inmates is only a start.