ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, prison officials, policymakers and researchers have observed an astonishing phenomenon in the US: increasing numbers of older adults are entering the prison system, finding themselves locked behind steel doors and razor wire fences. Countless older prisoners sit in wheelchairs or feebly shuffle back and forth to receive medication waiting for their life sentences to end. This fact has mobilised prison staff and other public officials to examine policy issues such as economic costs, housing and institutional management, humanitarian and other end of life concerns. Factors contributing to the ageing prison population include the ageing of the general population, the increase in older adults committing violent offences, the harsher sanctions now given for crimes committed, and the war on drugs. The numbers of older Americans entering federal and State institutions is not anticipated to diminish in the near future. In fact, researchers have estimated that during the next half century, we will continue to witness judges issuing stringent prison sentences to the elderly.