Elders behind bars

I seldom respond well to unsolicited blog-fodder, but I was intrigued by an infographic a correspondent named Cara Delany sent me. It seeks to stimulate discussion about the growing number of elders in the prison population. Ms. Delany describes herself as an "marketing intern." You can see the whole graphic here. I found her topic and data important, so I'm passing on a couple of the best bits of the effort here.

These older prisoners are mostly past the age when they are much danger to society. Only 17 percent of prisoners over 50 who leave prison commit another crime, compared to 40 percent of all prisoners released. We're keeping them locked up because we binged on imprisonment over the last few decades what with the "war on drugs," three-strikes laws, and politicians needing to appear "tough on crime." As Delany writes:

The number of inmates serving life sentences quadrupled between 1984 and 2008; inmates who live a long time with life sentences will grow old and are most likely to die in prison.

Meanwhile, it's expensive to lock up old people if you give them decent medical care. And states seldom grant "compassionate release" to dying prisoners.
The country can't afford a bloated prison system choking on people who've done their time and largely should be released. It's not as if they are going to have an easy time on the outside after long sentences and very likely losing touch with families and communities. But what we are doing is crazy!