ABSTRACT
"The animals, the animals, trapped, trapped, trapped till the cage is full": Regina Spektor's theme song for Orange is the New Black calls attention to the liminal space between human and animal–an important theme in incarceration. This chapter argues that the overall United States correctional population began to decline, and great strides were made in struggles against the death penalty, solitary confinement, and the war on drugs, after decades of inaction. The lack of quality health care in prison affects this older population upon release, too, while the paucity of cost data has significantly hampered innovations in policy and practice to improve value in correctional health care. In addition to psychiatric disorders, disproportionately large number of female inmates suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, and cancer. The series succeeds in highlighting the liminal space of age and illness and the challenges of incarceration.
