Aging and Dying in Prison

We have written several posts about the graying of the prison population. Here is one more-looking at the long term care prisons provide, functioning in some instances as a nursing home or a hospice.  Kaiser Health News (KHN) ran the story, More Prisoners Die Of Old Age Behind Bars.

The number of federal and state prisoners age 55 or older reached over 151,000 in 2014, a growth of 250 percent since 1999.

As this population grows, prisons have begun to serve as nursing homes and hospice wards caring for the sickest patients. The majority of state prisoners who died in 2014 were 55 years or older, and 87 percent of state prisoners died of illnesses, according to the report. The most common illnesses were cancer, heart disease and liver failure.

The article, noting that elders may have multiple health conditions, reports of one inmate with dementia who was placed in the general population rather than in the medical wing.  The article also discusses the early release program in some states, known as "compassionate release"

For prisoners clamoring to spend their dying days at home, U.S. prison jurisdictions have some laws on the books, often called “compassionate release” or “medical parole,” allowing for early release if prisoners are very sick and not a threat. But in practice, very few inmates are set free through these programs, said Dr. Brie Williams, director of the University of California Criminal Justice and Health Project in San Francisco.

However, compassionate release isn't always the solution as the article points out, especially when those seeking release are violent offenders, as the article explains some instances where early release of a prisoner resulted in another crime, or release was  obtained through fraud.  But without compassionate release, the prisoners die in prison, and thus the prison needs to provide nursing home or hospice care for inmates.

What's the solution to this growing problem? " Williams has been watching the population of older prisoners continue to grow, outpacing the general population of the U.S. As this trend continues, she said, prisons and jails need to catch up... 'I’m talking about a massive expansion of the field of palliative care into the correctional system,” she said, “so it’s integrated into the fabric of correctional care.'”