Aging in Prison

Reducing Elder
Incarceration
and Promoting
Public Safety

A publication of the

The continued imprisonment of a
group of people who have significantly
aged out of crime, who pose little
public safety risk and could in fact
contribute to our communities,
expresses clearly the revenge
principle. It tells us that for some
people—especially people of color—
growth and change do not entitle you
to a second chance.
Soffiyah Elijah, Esq.
Executive Director, the Correctional Association
of New York

II Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

Aging in Prison:
Reducing Elder Incarceration
and Promoting Public Safety
November 2015

Edited by Samuel K. Roberts
Director of Policy at the Center for Justice
at Columbia University 2013–2014
A publication of the Center for Justice
at Columbia University

Acknowledgments
This publication is the product of a symposium held in March, 2014,
organized by:
Be the Evidence Project/Fordham University
Center for Justice at Columbia University
Correctional Association of New York
Florence V. Burden Foundation
Mailman School of Public Health/Columbia University
Osborne Association
Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP

Thank you
Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Colin Bernatsky, Kathy Boudin, Ariane Davisson,
Annette Dickerson, Geraldine Downey, Robert B. Harris, Shoshana Jarvis,
Clinton Lacey, Reverend N.J. L’Heureux, Jr., Lisa Metsch, Karen Murtagh,
Michael Naft, New York City Department for the Aging, Cameron
Rasmussen, Danylle J. Rudin, Skye Ross, Lisa Sangoi, Isaac Scott,
Kimberly Spencer, Carin Tinney, Laura Whitehorn, Cheryl Wilkins.
Thank you for generous support from the Tow Foundation and
Columbia University.
And thank you to all the symposium presenters and facilitators. We
would particularly like to thank Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director of
the Correctional Association of New York, who first suggested that the
Center for Justice hold this symposium.

IV Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

Contents
Executive Summary�������������������������������������������������������� VIII
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������X
Recommendations for Reform����������������������������������XVIII

Challenges to Re-entry

53

8. The High Costs of Low Risk: The Crisis of
America’s Aging Prison Population (Abridged)
Elizabeth Gaynes, President & CEO, the

Identifying the Roots of the Problem

1

Osborne Association����������������������������������������������������������������54

1. An Unnecessary Crisis: How Resolving the

9. Let Those Who Have Been There Guide

Problem of Aging in Prison Will Help

Reentry

Dismantle Mass Incarceration in the United

Gloria Rubero������������������������������������������������������������������������������59

States – “If the risk is low, let them go!”
Mujahid Farid, Lead Organizer, Release

10. New York State Department of

Aging People in Prison/RAPP�������������������������������������������������2

Corrections and Community Supervision
Discharge Planning Barriers: Potential

2. Aging Behind Bars: Prison, Punishment,

Strategies

Parole, and Human Rights

Lynn Cortella, formerly of NYS Department

Jamie Fellner, Senior Advisor, U.S. Program,

of Corrections and Community Supervision ����������������62

Human Rights Watch �������������������������������������������������������������� 10
11. Combating Employment Discrimination
3. The Growth and Politicization of Life

to Reduce Barriers to Reentry

Imprisonment

Sandra Pullman, Office of the New York

Marc Mauer, Executive Director, The

State Attorney General, Civil Rights Bureau������������������67

Sentencing Project���������������������������������������������������������������������15
12. Co-constructing Community: A

Experience Inside and Consequences

23

Conceptual Map for Reuniting Aging People
in Prison to Families and Communities

4. Older Adults in the New York State

Tina Maschi, Professor, Fordham University ���������������71

Prison System
Brian Fischer, Former Commissioner, New

13. Elders Behind Bars in the Broad Scope of

York State Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision����������������������������������������������������������24

Reducing Incarceration
Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director, the
Correctional Association of New York������������������������������78

5. The Prospect of Aging in Prison: A Longtermer’s Perspective
Larry White, Hope Lives for Lifers Project���������������������31

Appendix: A Model Plan for Elder Reentry

83

Community Re-integration Pilot Case
6. The High Fiscal Costs of Incarcerating

Management Model

the Elderly

The Aging Reentry Task Force (Be The

William Bunting, Economist, American Civil

Evidence Project/Fordham University; The

Liberties Union����������������������������������������������������������������������������35

Center for Justice at Columbia University;

Reviewing Barriers to Release

43

Florence V. Burden Foundation; NYC
Department for the Aging; Osborne

7. A Perspective on Some Procedures that

Association; Release Aging People in

Unfairly Delay Prisoner Release

Prison/RAPP; and 30 other organizations

Edward R. Hammock, Esq., Former Chair,

and individuals)��������������������������������������������������������������������������84

New York State Board of Parole ����������������������������������������44

Table of Contents V

VI Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

Table of Contents VII

Executive Summary
Columbia University’s Center for Justice, with Release Aging People in Prison/
RAPP, the Correctional Association of New York, the Osborne Association,
the Be the Evidence Project/Fordham University, and the Florence V. Burden
Foundation, coordinated a symposium in Spring of 2014 to discuss the rapidly growing population of elderly and aging people in prison. In attendance at
the symposium were researchers, policy advocates, current and former policy
makers and administrators, elected and appointed officials, and those who
have directly experienced incarceration.1
All agreed that while the overall prison population of New York State has
declined in the past decade, the number of people aged 50 and older has increased at an alarming rate. The symposium provided the time and space for
key stakeholders and actors to think critically about how best to address the
phenomenon of New York’s aging prison population without compromising
public safety.
A series of papers emerged from the symposium. Together, they provide a
rich overview and analysis of aging people in prison from some of the best
thinkers in this field. While the authors differ in opinion over some issues, they
share several key observations and recommendations:
In New York State, the aging prison population continues to rise. The population of incarcerated people aged 50 and older has increased by 81% since the
early 2000’s. Currently, people aged 50 and older comprise more than 17% of
the prison population. The well-documented racial disparities in the criminal
justice system are also reflected in the aging prison population—a vastly disproportionate percentage of aging people in prison are Black men and women.
Prisons were not meant to be nursing homes and are poorly equipped to
house an aging population. Basic structural limitations create formidable dif-

1	

Presenters include: Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New
York; Brian Fischer, former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correction &
Community Supervision; Edward Hammock, former Chair of the New York State Parole Board;
Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project; Jamie Fellner, JD, Human Rights
Watch Senior Director of U.S. Program; Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, former Deputy Mayor for Health and
Human Services and former Commissioner, NYC Department for the Aging; Larry White, Advocate,
rights of people in prison; Mujahid Farid, Lead Organizer, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP;
Will Bunting, American Civil Liberties Union; Danylle Rudin, Florence V. Burden Foundation;
Elizabeth Gaynes, Executive Director of the Osborne Association; Gloria Rubero, Aging Reentry
Task Force member; Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW, Founder and Executive Director of the Be
The Evidence Project/Fordham University; Karen Murtagh, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal
Services of New York; Lynn Cortella, formerly of NYS Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision; Sandra Pullman, Office of the New York State Attorney General, Civil Rights Bureau;
Rev. N.J. L’Heureux, Executive Director of the Queens Federation of Churches; and Clinton Lacey,
Director of the District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS); former
Deputy Commissioner of Adult Operations of the NYC Department of Probation.

VIII Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

ficulties for elderly people in prison who often have limited mobility. The lack
of medical or correctional staff with specialized knowledge in geriatric care
significantly impairs prisons from providing appropriate care to people experiencing chronic medical problems.
Incarcerating the elderly has serious financial implications. The cost of incarcerating someone aged 50 and older is two to five times the cost of incarcerating someone 49 and younger. An economist who presented at the symposium estimated that the United States spends at least $16 billion annually on
incarcerating elderly people.
The explosion in the aging prison population undermines basic fairness, justice, and compassion.
The boom in the aging prison population is largely the result of tough-oncrime sentencing laws and release policies. Legislators across the political
spectrum are rethinking such policies because they have proved ineffective at
addressing crime and have a deleterious impact on the wellbeing and safety
of poor people and people of color.
Public safety does not require that we keep aging people in prison when
they pose no risk to society. People in prison aged 50 and older are far less
likely to return to prison for new crimes than their younger counterparts. For
example, only 6.4% of people incarcerated in New York State released age 50
and older returned to prison for new convictions; this number was 4% for people released at the age of 65 and older. Nationally, arrest rates are just over
2% for people aged 50+ and are almost 0% for people aged 65+.
There are several measures New York State should implement to reform parole policy and release aging people from prison. These measures are consistent with public safety and will result in significant cost savings for New York
State. In addition, there are several measures New York State must implement
if it is to provide humane care for its aging prison population. Lastly, reentry
services specifically tailored to elders released from prison will help ensure
the protection of their human rights and dignity, as well as enhancing public
safety and preventing any risk of recidivism.
We are pleased to report that the symposium resulted in the creation of a
model pilot project for discharge planning and reentry—the report on this pilot
is attached to this series of papers as an appendix. We hope that the knowledge collected in the symposium, the pilot on reentry, and our continued
commitment to improving New York State’s justice system serve as resources
for you in your efforts to create a safer and healthier New York for all its residents. The groups and individuals who participated in the symposium and the
Aging Reentry Task Force remain ready to provide expertise and resources to
help our policy makers in these efforts. ■

Executive Summary IX

Introduction

Reducing Incarceration and Endless
Punishment, and Moving Toward
Release and Successful Reentry
Samuel K. Roberts and Lisa K. Sangoi2

Overview
The crisis of mass incarceration in the United States is now well documented.
We incarcerate a greater percentage of our population than any other country in the world—with only 5% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the
world’s prison population. The effect of mass incarceration on Black communities is particularly severe. One in seventeen white men are expected to serve
time in prison during their lifetime, but this number jumps to one in three for
African-American men. New York State is not immune: while New York’s prison
population has declined over the past decade and a half, it still incarcerates a
large and growing number of people aged 50 and older.3
This reflects a national trend, which experts on criminal justice have called
the epidemic “graying” of the prison population. The sheer number of people
aging in prison, and their particular needs, already presents a formidable challenge to the ability of correctional facilities to provide adequate care, and to
state budgets to keep pace with the exponentially increasing costs of providing
health care for aging people.

2	

Samuel K. Roberts is Associate Professor of History at Columbia University, Associate Professor
of Sociomedical Sciences at Mailman School of Public Health, and Director of the Columbia
University Institute for Research in African-American Studies. From 2013 to 2014 he was Director
of Policy at the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Lisa K. Sangoi graduated from NYU Law
School in 2015 as an Arthur G. Hays Fellow. She is currently a staff attorney and Ford Foundation
Public Interest Fellow at National Advocates for Pregnant Women.

3	

Because of the added health burdens of incarceration, most experts agree that incarcerated
people age at a rate approximately 10 years in advance of their non-incarcerated peers. While
some studies and experts use age 55 or 60 as the threshold for categorizing incarcerated people
as “older,” the symposium followed the recommendation of former New York State Department of
Corrections and Community Services Commissioner Brian Fischer to set the starting age at 50.

X Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

The social, economic, health, and moral and ethical implications of this crisis
were the impetus for this symposium.4 We brought together some of the foremost experts on aging in prison, including academics, practitioners, advocates,
and formerly incarcerated people, to share their analysis and consider simple
but meaningful steps that New York State could take to move towards a more
just and humane system of punishment.
We learned that harsh sentencing policies and consistent underuse of release
mechanisms such as parole, clemency, and medical release have significantly
contributed to the rise of aging people in prison. We learned that aging people
in prison, especially those who are convicted of committing the most serious
violent crimes (and are thus serving long sentences), are often perceived as
presenting a high risk of reoffending. Yet, the statistics bear out the opposite:
aging people convicted of murder present the lowest risk of re-convictions of
any prison population,5 and among people convicted of all categories of crimes,
people aged 50 and older present the lowest risk of committing a new crime. In
New York State, between 1985 and 2010, only 6.4% of incarcerated people released from prison at age 50 or older returned for new convictions within three
years (compared with the total for all age groups: 14.9%).6 Nevertheless, this
population comprises a large and growing percentage of the prison population.
We learned that incarcerating elderly people comes at a significant cost to the
state: almost double the cost of housing younger people. We learned from formerly incarcerated elderly people that while many older incarcerated people
are very ill and in need of medical release, many others are healthy and rehabilitated women and men who have contributed immeasurably to their correctional institutions and could become valuable, productive members of society.
Lastly, we learned from New York State officials themselves who have played
critical roles in parole and release planning that New York State could take
several simple but courageous steps to reform parole and release policy. These
steps not only represent good criminal justice, public health and fiscal policy,
but are also what compassion and justice demand.

4	

The contributions in this report constitute the recommendations and observations of some
of the most well informed individuals in the area of aging people in America’s criminal justice
(CJ) system, including experts on aging, researchers, formerly incarcerated persons, reentry
specialists, and members of the corrections profession. They also represent the collaborative
thinking done during a day-long symposium on the subject, titled “Reducing Incarceration:
Endless Punishment, Long-Term Sentences, and Aging in Prison – Or Release and Reentry,” held
on 28 March 2014 at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and sponsored
by Columbia University’s Justice Initiative (since renamed the Columbia University Center for
Justice), the Correctional Association of New York, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP, the
Osborne Association, Be the Evidence at Fordham School of Social Services, and the Florence V.
Burden Foundation.

5	

State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 2010 Releases:
Three Year Post Release Follow-Up. Retrieved from http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/
Reports/2014/2010_releases_3yr_out.pdf.

6	

Id.

Introduction XI

While the symposium presentations—and the essays in this book—concentrate
on the New York prison system, the conclusions can be applied nationally. In
“Recommendations for Reform,” beginning on page XVIII, we list just a few
of the policy recommendations the symposium speakers made for New York
State. Other states (and the Federal Bureau of Prisons) will need to address the
crisis in ways specific to the applicable laws and regulations.

Who Are Aging Long-Termers in Prison?
Mujahid Farid,7 director of Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP, notes that
while the movement against mass incarceration has resulted in rethinking
the nation’s treatment of people convicted of nonviolent offenses, and has
even produced a perceptible dip in the overall number of people in prison, the
number of aging people behind bars has skyrocketed. In New York State over
the past thirteen years, while the overall prison population has decreased by
23%, the population of incarcerated people aged fifty and over has increased
by 81%. This group now represents more than 17% of New York’s incarcerated
population—up from 11% in 2007.8 Nationally, the prison population aged 55
and older quadrupled while the overall prison population increased by 41%.9
The author, a formerly incarcerated individual who in his time in prison was
exemplary and earned multiple degrees, was denied parole release time and
time again due to an immutable factor: the nature of the offense for which he
was convicted. He represents an expanding demographic of the elderly prison
population—individuals sentenced many years ago to 15 or 25 years to life who
now remain in prison into old age. Many, like Farid, were convicted of a violent
offense at a young age, and have since spent decades in prison becoming model
citizens and excellent candidates for parole, except that the nature of the offense itself will prevent any meaningful opportunity for release.
Farid notes that many of these older people could make major contributions
to their communities upon release. Indeed, this very fact has been noted by
prison administrators who have effectively utilized the skills of these elders to
strengthen programs on the inside.

How Did We Get Here And What Are the Consequences?
Jamie Fellner,10 a senior advisor at Human Rights Watch, presents a legal and
philosophical analysis on the human rights implications of denying parole

7	

Symposium speaker and author of An Unnecessary Crisis: How Resolving the Problem of Aging in
Prison Will Help Dismantle Mass Incarceration in the United States.

8	

State of New York Department of Correctional Services. (2012). Profile of Inmate Population
Under Custody on January 1, 2007. Retrieved from http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/
Reports/2007/Hub_Report_2007.pdf.

9	

Human Rights Watch. (2012). Old Behind Bars: The Aging Population in the United States.
Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/01/27/old-behind-bars-0.

10	 Symposium speaker and author of Aging Behind Bars: Prison, Punishment, Parole, and Human
Rights.

XII Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

release based solely on the seriousness of the offense of
conviction. She concludes that keeping someone in prison
beyond his or her minimum sentence on this basis may
violate the basic human right to be free from cruel punishment (punishment that is disproportionate to the crime).
Fellner proposes a more humane and rational approach.
In an indeterminate sentence, she suggests, the minimum
should constitute the punishment or retribution. Once that
is fulfilled, concerns for public safety—including a real
evaluation of a person’s risk of reoffending—would determine how many, if any, extra years should be spent in
prison. Fellner brings these points home with a vivid description of a visit to
elders with dementia in a New York prison. She asks: if they have served time
and experienced punishment for their offenses, and they pose no risk to public
safety, what is the point of keeping them in prison?
Marc Mauer,11 Executive Director of the Sentencing Project, contextualizes the
growing number of elderly people in prison within the historical and social
landscape of America’s criminal justice system. The increased use of lengthy
prison sentences corresponded with the expansion of the prison system in the
1970’s and tough-on-crime political environment in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The
rapid state and federal level enactments of mandatory minimum provisions,
“three strikes and you’re out” laws, and the contraction of parole and pardon/
commutation discretion not only caused the prison population to boom, but
also created a rise in the number of elderly people in prison.
As Mauer points out, long-term incarceration can actually be counter-productive to public safety. Specifically, he points to the abundance of research, dating
back to 1983, that older people “age out” of crime. He notes that any meaningful reduction in the incarcerated population must take this evidence into
account, along with fundamental notions of justice and liberty demanding that
prison sentences should never exceed the term necessary to achieve the objective of punishment.
Brian Fischer,12 former Commissioner of New York State’s Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision, examines the situation of elders incarcerated in the New York State system. New York operates Regional Medical
Units for its most seriously ill inmates. Over 78% of the people incarcerated in
these units are over the age of 50, and expenditures can exceed $130,000 per
patient because of the added cost of security coverage in addition to medical
needs specific to aging, such as chronic illnesses, acute infections, and cognitive
impairment.

11	 Symposium speaker and author of The Growth and Politicization of Life Imprisonment.
12	 Symposium speaker and author of Older Adults in the New York State Prison System.

Introduction XIII

Fischer suggests avenues for reform. Within the system, he recommends creating programming designed specifically for aging incarcerated people, and
training all prison staff, including medical professionals, security and counseling staff, and field parole officers on the needs of this aging population. He also
recommends better equipping facilities to accommodate the physical limitations and vulnerabilities of the elderly. Lastly, Fischer recommends the expanded use of parole and medical parole or compassionate release paired with
programming and funds that ease the transition of terminally ill people back
into the community.

What is the Experience of a Long-Termer in Prison?
Larry White,13 an organizer at the American Friends Service Committee, walks
the reader through a convicted person’s experience of joining the prison population for the long haul. The reader gets a sense of the extraordinarily painful
mental adjustment a person facing a long prison sentence must make at the
very outset to acclimate to the realities of prison life. White then fast-forwards
fifteen years, to a person approaching their first opportunity for release and
navigating an opaque parole process. White’s Kafkaesque description of the
routine, yet arbitrary, denial of parole to even the most exemplary incarcerated person illustrates the total agency-stripping nature of the parole process.
Having worked towards parole release for the past fifteen years, the applicant
must now face the reality that most long-termers are routinely denied parole,
instead becoming geriatric prisoners. White leaves the reader wondering how
people in prison can maintain momentum to engage in rehabilitative efforts
when the chances for parole release are so bleak and the process itself can
break the spirit.
White depicts what health journals have long documented: that aging people in
prison are generally more sick than their counterparts on the outside, because
incarceration itself damages health and well-being. The ailments that accompany aging are compounded by the effects of incarceration, resulting in a prison
population that has higher rates of chronic and communicable diseases, greater risk of mental illness, dementia, and other cognitive impairments.

What Are the Financial Costs of Keeping Aging People
in Prison?
William Bunting,14 an economist with the American Civil Liberties Union, provides a national overview of the impact of incarcerating the elderly, connecting
the rise in the number of older inmates to escalating medical costs. Taking into
account the increase in medical conditions experienced by people as they age
and the need for longer and more frequent hospitalizations; the correctional
environment itself which is not designed to house and care for aging popula13	 Symposium speaker and author of The Prospect of Aging in Prison: A Long-Termers Perspective.
14	 Symposium speaker and author of The High Fiscal Costs of Incarcerating the Elderly.

XIV Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

tions (and thus exacerbates the effects of aging); and transport off site to receive medical care, Bunting arrives at the conservative nationwide estimate of
$16 billion per year to incarcerate elderly prisoners. This exceeds the expenditure of the federal Department of Education on school improvements. Bunting
concludes that as this population presents an extremely low risk of recidivism,
states should consider enacting legislation allowing prisoners of a certain age
who have served a minimum number of years to be considered for parole.

What Are the Structural Barriers Long-Termers Face
Preventing Release?
Edward R. Hammock,15 former chair of the New York State Parole Board, discusses the statutory and regulatory barriers to release of long-termers from
prison. He identifies the tendency of parole boards to deny release solely based
on the seriousness of the crime of conviction. Hammock stresses that the gravity of the offense was already taken into account by prosecutors and judges
at sentencing. He compares prosecutors and judges to parole board officials,
arguing that because the former have a fuller knowledge of the case and the
defendant, they are better situated to determine the extent to which the seriousness of the offense should factor into sentence length. He mentions several
ideas for parole reform but focuses on one in particular: the adoption of public
standards to govern parole decision making so that all stakeholders could contribute to a rational, regulated decision making process.
Hammock also identifies determinate sentencing and New York’s prison disciplinary proceedings as obstacles to decreasing the population of elders in the
prison system. In his professional observation, determinate sentencing has significantly increased sentence lengths; and, the disciplinary process is arbitrary
and weighted against the individual, resulting in a loss of good time and unfavorably affecting the record a parole applicant presents to the board.

What Challenges do Aging Long-Termers Face
Upon Release?
Elizabeth Gaynes,16 President and CEO of the Osborne Association, enumerates
the additional burdens of older people attempting to return to the community,
including difficulties securing housing and employment, as well as psychological and medical problems. Some medical problems, she says, may remain undetected amid prison conditions, emerging only upon release into the community.
Few models for reentry for older people exist, Gaynes says, but effective models can be built by incorporating the knowledge and experience of correctional
reentry experts with those of geriatric experts. She recommends steps towards

15	 Symposium speaker and author of A Perspective on Some Procedures that Unfairly Delay Prisoner
Release.
16	 Symposium speaker and author of The High Costs of Low Risk: The Crisis of America’s Aging Prison
Population (abridged).

Introduction XV

successful reentry programs and argues that robust reentry models can provide an alternative to the perpetual incarceration of the elderly, allowing us to
save money, meet standards of human rights, and provide effective protection
for public safety.
Ultimately, Gaynes says, the swollen numbers of incarcerated elders reflect fundamental problems in the prison system as a whole, and show why it is necessary to reexamine and reform the purposes of incarceration and our society’s
approach to punishment. Resolving problems in the situation of aging people
in prison, she argues, provides a way to begin to do that.
Gloria Rubero,17 a formerly incarcerated person, provides a first-hand account
of the challenges an older person faces upon release from prison. Rubero was
granted release at her fifth parole board appearance and reentered society
after 26 years in a New York State prison. However, the joy of her newfound
freedom was tempered by the obstacles she faced in securing basic life necessities such as employment and housing on the outside. Rubero’s story illustrates
how barriers to reentry discourage integration and can even foster unhealthy
behaviors. Rubero argues that the input of formerly incarcerated people is critical to building an infrastructure to support those persons exiting prisons.
Lynn Cortella,18 formerly of the New York State Department of Corrections
and Community Supervision (DOCCS), identifies several elements critical to
effective discharge planning for the elderly, including implementing a thorough and consistent assessment protocol to identify facts relevant to reentry
such as medical and family history and receipt of government benefits prior to
incarceration; effective and regular communication across correctional staff
including, but not limited to, medical care providers; and ensuring that medical
planning upon discharge reflects a continuum of care so that, for example, people released into the community receive medication with no interruption. She
notes the connection between community safety and successful reintegration
of formerly incarcerated people and provides examples of programs that have
addressed the needs she has identified on a small scale, either through providing a continuum of care for reentering people with HIV or HCV, or by initiating
Medicaid applications prior to release.
Sandra Pullman,19 Assistant Attorney General with the New York State Civil
Rights Bureau, focuses on the particular challenge employment presents for
those reentering their communities, given widespread employment discrimination practices against formerly incarcerated people. She outlines New York
State’s legal framework for prohibiting discrimination in employment against
people with criminal histories, which is more robust than the federal protec17	 Symposium speaker and author of Let Those Who Have Been There Guide Reentry.
18	 Symposium speaker and author of New York State Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision Discharge Planning Barriers: Potential Strategies.
19	 Symposium speaker and author of Combating Employment Discrimination to Reduce Barriers to
Reentry.

XVI Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

tions currently in place. She also notes that some localities such as Buffalo have
taken steps to provide even stronger protection than that offered by the state,
such as prohibiting private employers with 15 or more employees from questioning applicants about their criminal histories prior to the first interview.
Pullman notes that these protections are critical to reducing the collateral consequences of incarceration and reintegrating those who have served time into
the community.
Tina Maschi,20 founder and Executive Director of Be the Evidence Project,
brings the voices of formerly incarcerated men and women and correctional
staff to the page to discuss their first hand experiences with release into the
community. Through the voices of those most affected, Maschi challenges the
reader to confront the societal costs and moral implications of incarcerating
seriously ill, frail and elderly people. She notes a paradox: though older people
pose the least risk of recidivism after release, they nonetheless face some of the
greatest barriers in rejoining their communities, as aging compounds the structural and societal stigma of incarceration.
Maschi effectively captures the voices of those affected and provides their perspectives on much of what is discussed in this symposium. One man’s story of
the empathy and guidance he received at a young age from a police officer in
his neighborhood gives meaning and content to the concept of social support.
Another man’s account of the extreme difficulty he faced in obtaining a personal identification card, which then created obstacles to gaining government
assistance, is a window into the world of the structural barriers formerly incarcerated people face every day. In bringing the reader so close to those affected,
Maschi forces us to ask whether we can envision means of seeking accountability that are also compassionate and just.
Soffiyah Elijah,21 Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New
York, provides the context and framework for thinking about change. A discussion of reforms, she argues, should be had with elderly incarcerated people themselves, who could provide critical guidance as we search for rational
and humane answers to some of our nations most challenging public health
and safety challenges. While adjustments within correction facilities could
ameliorate the situation of older incarcerated people, Elijah says, it is only by
renouncing our culture of harsh punishment—most specifically directed at
people of color—that we will resolve the problem of the rising population of
incarcerated elders.

20	 Symposium speaker and author of Co-Constructing Community: A Conceptual Map for Reuniting
Aging People in Prison to Families and Communities.
21	 Symposium speaker and author of Elders Behind Bars in the Broad Scope of Reducing
Incarceration.

Introduction XVII

Recommendations for Reform
Amidst the data and academic research, practitioner reports, and testimony and ideas of formerly incarcerated people themselves, one thing becomes
clear: the continuing incarceration of the elderly makes little sense. Older people in prison face the greatest hardships given the challenges of their age and
health; the general rigors of the correctional environment make it unsuitable
to caring for the elderly; older people in prison cost correctional institutions
far more than any other cohort; and, last, older people pose the least danger to
public safety.
Another thing that becomes clear is that a rich source of expertise to help fix
these problems already exists: people now in the community after serving long
sentences, older people still behind bars, and the families of both groups offer a
wealth of ideas and strategies. The symposium drew on that expertise, and it is
recommended that all the processes for change should do so as well.
The American public is experiencing a sea change in its perception of criminal justice and mass incarceration, and the state and federal government are
implementing proposals for reform that have emanated from both the left and
right. Now is a ripe moment to reform the manner in which New York State
incarcerates its aging prison population. The symposium speakers identified
several key reforms that can be swiftly implemented with support from the

executive branch.

Release Mechanisms22
Utilize and expand mechanisms that promote and permit release on parole for
older incarcerated people; modify parole regulations to give added weight to
age in determining release, using age-related risk evaluations as a guide; do
away with the parole board’s reliance on the “nature of the crime” as the primary factor in parole decisions.
Increase utilization of compassionate release and medical parole policies, and
expand these policies to incorporate elders with serious medical conditions
that are neither terminal nor totally disabling; adopt the standard for release
articulated in federal regulations: “chronic or serious medical conditions relating to the aging process [that] substantially diminish [one’s] ability to function

22	 It should be noted that almost every speaker at the Symposium urged the Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision, the New York State executive and legislative branches,
and the New York State Board of Parole to implement policies and practices to release many more
aging people in the state prison system.

XVIII Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

in a correctional facility;” remove statutory language that bars people convicted of some classes of offense from such release, and base decisions instead on
individual evaluations.
Implement parole reforms such as the pending New York State Safe and Fair
Evaluation (SAFE) Parole Act (S01728/A02930) to eliminate the continued reliance on the nature of the original crime as a basis for perpetual parole denial
after completion of the minimum sentence.

Within Correctional Facilities
Adapt and enforce the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners23 to preserve the dignity and human rights of incarcerated people; train prison staff in geriatric care and knowledge so that they can
respect and advance such rights.
Give special consideration to the needs of older people in the design of prison
spaces and programs; take age into account in classification (and re-classification) of incarcerated people to allow access to lower security institutions.
Ensure the provision of age-appropriate healthcare for older people both
during incarceration and upon their release into the community; design and
implement geriatric assessment care plans to evaluate the needs of older incarcerated people well in advance of their release, and connect them to appropriate community-based service providers.

Post-Release Services
Create reentry plans for older people, utilizing a “buddy” system through
which formerly incarcerated elders can guide new releases through the reentry process.
Ensure continuity of care through specialized transitional planning and follow-up for the aging population, including connection to health insurance and
care coordinators; bring together the expertise of two distinct groups of service
providers: geriatric and correctional/reentry specialists.
Develop infrastructure within communities to receive and care for returning
individuals, including enhancing the capacity of senior centers and elder services to effectively serve formerly incarcerated elders; educate communities to
facilitate their support for older incarcerated people returning to communities.

23	See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/TreatmentOfPrisoners.aspx.

Introduction XIX

Conclusion: Changing the Punishment Paradigm
These essays challenge us to critically examine the current punishment paradigm. The economic, social, moral, and ethical implications of how we treat
older incarcerated people are not anomalies in the system. Rather, they are
representative of endemic problems in the charging, sentencing, and prison
systems. The punishment paradigm, favoring retribution over rehabilitation
and intolerance over mercy, has produced a bloated system of criminal justice
that incarcerates far too many people for far too long. It criminalizes social
vulnerability such as poverty and mental illness, and tells people that despite
your best efforts at making amends, you are no better than your very worst
moment. It perpetuates and expands racial injustice and destroys the ability of
entire communities to be recognized as equal under the law. As spending on
corrections begins to rival spending on education and healthcare, the punishment paradigm speaks to the type of society we are. We must take responsibility for this and ask ourselves if we really believe that prisons carry the same
transformative potential as access to quality education, housing, employment
and healthcare.
We cannot bring meaningful reform to the comprehensive system of mass incarceration by tinkering at the edges. A myopic, exclusive focus on nonviolent,
low level convictions fails to address the larger ills that plague our criminal justice system and ignores the very root of the problem: an ideologically unsound
attachment to punishment and tough-on-crime policies that have, ironically,
made communities less secure and less prosperous. The symposium calls on
leaders in the New York State government to have the courage to admit the failings of our system of punishment and to craft a system of justice built on the
decades of evidence-based research that clearly tell us what we are doing right
and what we are doing wrong. This research tells us that our criminal justice
policy cannot and should not be guided by fear, but rather by hope, compassion, and mercy.

Appendix: The Aging Reentry Task Force
We are pleased to report that the symposium resulted in the creation of a task
force24 that produced the design for a pilot project for reentry of incarcerated
people aged 60 and above, incorporating some of the reform recommendations
of the symposium panelists. The report, titled Community Re-integration Pilot
Case Management Model, appears in this collection of papers as an appendix. ■

24	 The Aging Reentry Task Force was chaired by 5 groups: New York City Department for the Aging
(DFTA), the Center for Justice at Columbia University, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP, the
Osborne Association, and Be The Evidence/Fordham University. Some 30 organizations, individual service providers, and formerly incarcerated individuals comprised the task force, with funding
from the Florence V. Burden Foundation.

XX Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

By establishing innovative policies
providing for early release of more of
the elderly prison population, leaders
in New York State can effect important
change in addressing the problem
of mass incarceration in the United
States—effecting considerable costsavings while ensuring the safety of
the community.
Brian Fischer
Former Commissioner, New York State Department
of Corrections and Community Supervision

Introduction XXI

“A whole lot of people are still incarcerated that
deserve to be out on parole. They serve their
sentence, go to school, stay out of trouble, and do
all the required programs. But the parole board
denies them release with no explanation of how to
become a better candidate for parole.”
Aaron Talley, re-entry consultant
Age: 64 | Years in prison: 43

Identifying the
Roots of the
Problem

1

An unnecessary crisis: How
resolving the problem of aging in
prison will help dismantle mass
incarceration in the United States “If the risk is low, let them go!”
Mujahid Farid
Lead Organizer, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
Across the country, politicians, officials, academics, journalists, and just about
everyone else is pondering how the United States can end its international embarrassment: “Leader of the Free World,” yet number one among nations in the
rate at which it incarcerates its citizens.
A little more than a year ago, some other formerly incarcerated people and I
joined with justice advocates to consider a salient piece of the puzzle. In the
wake of reforms to the state’s unnecessarily harsh drug laws, New York’s overall prison population had fallen since 2000. Yet the number of incarcerated
people over the age of 50 had risen and showed no signs of tapering off.25
Our theory at that time, now borne out by the past year of work, was that a fever of tough-on-crime, unforgiving policies and attitudes sweeping the country
over the past several decades has produced an irrational result: the very people
whose release from prison would not threaten public safety are being kept
behind bars as they age and grow infirm. While some advocates and correctional officials considered the crisis of the aging population in U.S. prisons by
suggesting ways to make prisons more elder-friendly, we felt there was a more
sensible approach to the problem—one more likely to enhance public safety, save public resources, and even help reduce the rates of incarceration for
younger people.
Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP was created to accelerate the release of
elderly people in New York State prisons. Currently, New York’s incarcerated elders are denied release despite extensive evidence showing that they pose the
very least risk to public safety. This is one of the ways mass incarceration has
grown into an economic, social, and moral crisis. RAPP shows how this crisis is
unnecessary and can now be remedied.

25	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2000). Under Custody
Report: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2000; and (2013). Under
Custody Report: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2013/UnderCustody_Report_2013.pdf.

2 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

In the past few years, countless activists and campaigns across this nation have
taken up the responsibility of dismantling mass incarceration. Many believe
that these struggles together have generated some signs of progress. Nationally,
there has been a slight dip in the overall number of people in prison.26 Yet, the
United States still leads the world in the rate at which it imprisons its people.
Currently, more than 700 out of every 100,000 people are locked up in the
United States.27
Quite significantly, there still exists in the United States a widespread and prevailing thirst to punish. In the states and jurisdictions where downsizing of
prison populations occurred, it was a result of budgetary and fiscal concerns,
and of excising from prison systems the “low-hanging fruit”, i.e., those convicted of minor property and drug-use offenses. Even amidst a modest reduction
in the overall U.S. prison population, the number of aging men and women
expected to die behind bars has skyrocketed in a system ill-prepared to handle
them and still oriented towards mass incarceration.

...a fever of tough-on-crime, unforgiving policies and attitudes sweeping the country
over the past several decades has produced an irrational result: The very people
whose release from prison would not threaten public safety are being kept behind
bars as they age and grow infirm.
If something does not happen to cause a major shift, the facts and figures forecast an even bleaker future:
•• Between 1995 and 2010, the number of state and federal prisoners aged
55 and over nearly quadrupled to 124,400, while the population as a
whole grew by about 42%.28
•• At the current rate of growth, by 2030 there will be more than 400,000
older people behind bars, a 4,400 percent increase from 1981 when only
8,853 of state and federal prisoners were elderly.29
•• In New York State over the past 13 years, the overall prison population
decreased by 23%—from 71,466 in 2000 to 54,865 in 2013. At the same

26	 Goode, E. (2013, July 25). U.S. Prison Populations Decline, Reflecting New Approach to Crime.
New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/us/us-prison-populations-decline-reflecting-new-approach-to-crime.html?_r=0.
27	 The Hamilton Project. (2014). Ten Economic Facts About Crime and Incarceration in the United
States. Retrieved from http://www.hamiltonproject.org/files/downloads_and_links/v8_
THP_10CrimeFacts.pdf.
28	 Human Rights Watch. (2012). Old Behind Bars: The Aging Population in the United States.
Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/01/27/old-behind-bars-0.
29	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 3

time, the population of incarcerated people aged 50 and over

Between 1995–2015

increased by 81%—from 5,111 in 2000 to 9,269 in 2013.30

...the number of state and federal prisoners
aged 55 and over nearly

quadrupled,

While the population as a whole grew 42%.

Much of this astronomical growth can be attributed to decades of expanding criminal statutes and a desire to lengthen
sentences for people convicted of crimes of violence. “Truth
in sentencing,” “three-strikes-you’re-out,” and similar initia-

282%

tives have resulted in longer prison sentences for thousands,
meaning many will hit 50 and older while still serving their
sentence. In New York and elsewhere, the ballooning population of elders in prison can also be directly tied to the failure
of correctional and parole systems to utilize existing release
mechanisms such as parole and compassionate release to
avoid imprisoning people past the time when incarceration
serves any purpose.
In May 2013, the RAPP Campaign was officially launched and

42%

entered the fray. RAPP was initiated and is led by formerly
incarcerated people, most of whom are in their 60’s and 70’s.
My experience is emblematic. In 1978, at age 28, I entered the
New York State prison system with a sentence of fifteen years
to life after being convicted of attempted murder in the first
degree as the controlling charge. At the time of my arrest, I

Total prison
population

Prisoners
aged 55+

had little formal education, lacking a high school diploma.
While preparing for trial on the charges lodged against me, I
also prepared for and passed the G.E.D. test. Six months after

Source: Human Rights Watch

arrest and conviction, I entered the state prison system with
a diploma in hand.
By the time I had reached the fifteen-year mark (becoming eligible for parole) I had gone on to earn four college degrees: (1) Associate in Business; (2)
Bachelors in Liberal Arts; (3) Masters in Sociology; and (4) Masters in Ministry.
In addition, I had earned numerous certificates in areas such as paralegal; tax
preparer; employment counselor; and HIV/AIDS peer counselor. Furthermore,
at that time, I had been one of a trio who created, proposed, and organized the
first HIV/AIDS peer education program in the prison system, which later developed into the widely acclaimed program (still existing in the New York prisons)
called PACE (Prisoners AIDS Education & Counseling).
However, upon appearing before the parole board for release at that fifteen-year mark in 1993, not one bit of my progress and rehabilitative efforts
mattered. How I changed over the years was an insignificant non-issue in the
parole process. I was denied parole then, and I was denied parole again and
30	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2000). Under Custody
Report: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2000; and (2013). Under
Custody Report: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2013/UnderCustody_Report_2013.pdf.

4 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

again, eight more times (every two years), all for the same
reason: “the nature of the offense” for which I was convicted—an immutable factor.
In 2011, at my tenth parole board appearance, I was finally released—approaching 62 years of age. The closer
I got to the release date, the more I looked around at the
men I would be leaving behind, many of whom had, like
me, been incarcerated since their teens and twenties and
who were now, like me, more than 60 or 70 years of age. I
became more sharply aware of the increasing infirmities
they faced; the frailties of age; the illnesses affecting them;
and their loss of hope through repeated parole denials. Like me, they had spent
their entire adult lives in prison, and most were different from the person who
had first entered the system. Unlike me, they were not going home.
RAPP was created because of the commitment and belief that this situation can and must be altered: release mechanisms for aging people in prison must either be created or, where they exist, utilized. The RAPP campaign
(RAPPCampaign.com) embraces a large group of people in prison ignored by or
excluded from efforts to challenge mass incarceration: long-termers convicted
of serious crimes; people who constitute the bulk of the aged-50-and-over prison population. Many of these human beings have taken responsibility for their
crimes; have transformed their lives and developed skills and abilities they
lacked before incarceration; and could be released from prison with no threat
to public safety.

In New York and elsewhere, the ballooning population of elders in prison can also be
directly tied to the failure of correctional and parole systems to utilize existing release
mechanisms such as parole and compassionate release to avoid imprisoning people
past the time when incarceration serves any purpose.
RAPP combines public education, direct policy proposals, and evidence-based
advocacy to promote the release of elderly men and women, including those
seeking compassionate medical release in New York State. This group is generally classified as “low risk” for recidivism, yet referred to as “high risk” in most
government and criminal justice publications simply because of their original
crime—mostly crimes of violence. Significantly, the RAPP approach does not
seek to expand release opportunities for certain classes of offenses by denying
opportunities for others. Rather, RAPP insists that parole decisions be based
on a person’s individual merits and experiences inside. This principle makes
the RAPP Campaign effective as an approach to decreasing New York’s prison
population. If approaches to de-carceration do not include people convicted of
crimes of violence, the prison population (especially people over the age of 50)

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 5

will continue to grow: In New York State, as of early last year, 64 percent of the
prison population was serving sentences for violent felony offenses.31
RAPP’s approach to this question also allows us to challenge a fundamental
pillar of mass incarceration: the reliance on a system of permanent punishment, a culture of retribution and revenge rather than rehabilitation
and healing. RAPP upholds the principle that when a person, regardless of the
crime or sentence, has duly paid for his or her offense against another person
or against the society, and he or she no longer poses a risk to public safety, it
is inhumane to keep the person caged simply to satisfy a primordial thirst for
vengeance—especially when there may never be a way to satisfy the thirst. We
argue that the culture of permanent punishment thrives on (as well as extends)
the power of racism, disproportionately targeting people of color and deeming
them unworthy of a second chance.
Keeping the elderly confined when they pose no risk is a costly proposition,
both economically and socially. In 2010, the United States spent over $80 billion
for the upkeep of prison populations with the bulk of the cost being borne by
state and local governments.32 These costs translate into increasing tax levies
on the working population and reduced funding for other, potentially more effective, strategies such as addressing crime-generative factors in the communities most impacted by mass incarceration. Research has shown that addressing
many of the crime-generating factors in underprivileged communities is more
cost-effective in producing public safety than expanding incarceration rates.33
In New York State in 2011, where the annual budget for corrections was about
3.6 billion dollars, the estimated cost for housing the average person in a prison
population that was at 59,237 came to about $60,000. When we consider that it
can cost from 2 to 4 times more to house an elderly person over the age of 50,
the dollars spent for that segment of the population can be staggering.
One irony of promoting mass incarceration as a way to protect public safety is
that it creates broader negative collateral consequences that affect entire communities, ultimately damaging public safety. High rates of incarceration can
have devastating effects on families and communities. This happens mostly in
those communities of color where mass incarceration has its most widespread
and potent negative effects.

31	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2013). Under Custody
Report: Profile of Inmate Population Under Custody on January 1, 2013. Retrieved from http://
www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2013/UnderCustody_Report_2013.pdf.
32	 The Hamilton Project. (2014). Ten Economic Facts About Crime and Incarceration in the United
States. Retrieved from http://www.hamiltonproject.org/files/downloads_and_links/v8_
THP_10CrimeFacts.pdf.
33	 The Sentencing Project. (2013). Annual Report 2013. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/
doc/publications/AR_2013_FINAL.pdf.

6 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

In New York
State

Avg $

But

The average cost for incarceration /

The average cost for incarceration / person age 50+ /

person / year is $60,076*

year can be 2 to 4 times MORE
At 2x cost

$$ 1,120,411,028 / all 50+ / year
At 3x cost

$$$ 1,680,616,542 / all 50+ / year
At 4x cost

$$$$ 2,240,822,056 / all 50+ / year
*2010
Source: The Vera Institute of Justice

Professor Todd R. Clear, in his research on the issue, identified six separate
areas where mass incarceration has negatively impacted disadvantaged
communities:34
•• It has weakened labor markets and earning power;
•• It has contributed to the reduction of marriage rates;
•• It has imposed economic strain on families;
•• It has damaged life chances for the children of people being confined;
•• It has elevated problems with health and the prevalence of STD’s; and
•• It has promulgated negative attitudes towards the justice system.
There is a basis to believe that mass incarceration actually diminishes public
safety. In his research, while Clear acknowledges that there are “considerable
methodological challenges” to trying to establish a causal link or association
to reduced public safety, he finds that “as empirical evidence of the negative
consequences of incarceration grows, the case that concentrated incarceration
has become criminogenic in its effects on involved communities has become
stronger.”35

Are there Essential Elements for Disrupting Bleak Prognostications of
Mass Incarceration?
Given the fact that mass incarceration has deeply embedded roots in economic,
social, and racial factors, any drive to de-construct must follow myriad strategic
tracks. There must be projects and campaigns launched which address every

34	 Clear, T. R. (2003). The Problem with ‘Addition by Subtraction’: The Prison-Crime Relationship in
Low Income Communities. In Marc Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind, eds., Invisible Punishment: The
Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. 181-194. NY: The New Press.
35	 Id.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 7

clearly identifiable aspect that negatively affects communities and institutions
“from the cradle to the grave.”
There will be a need to recognize that, contrary to some popular claims, mass
incarceration was not simply a response to crime. History shows that the
carceral spirit is motivated by class, economic, and racial concerns. Michelle
Alexander eloquently explained the dynamics of mass incarceration and debunked the myth that it was impelled by street crime when she illustrated that
President Reagan actually declared his administration’s “War on Drugs” before
the so-called crack epidemic had taken root and the U.S. Justice Department
had announced the cutting in half of the personnel assigned to the prosecution
of white-collar crimes.36 There is also academic evidence suggesting that most
of the growth in the incarceration rate can be attributed to changes in official
policies.37
Now, a fast-dropping crime rate has been a growing phenomenon. Crime in
America has dropped to a 30-year low and there is no question that Americans
are safer now than they have been in decades. So one question that needs to be
asked is: “why is there such a cultural lag with respect to the punishment paradigm?” There are still some policy makers who support and uphold harsh punitive policies. Even when this excessive spending on caging people threatens
sound fiscal budgets, they refuse to implement ameliorative measures where
it involves people convicted of serious offenses. They follow this course even
when these elderly people have already served very long sentences; are legally
eligible for release; and are officially classified as low-risk. This is a policy and
practice that contradicts the philosophy of parole.
When released from prison, the vast majority of people over the age of 50
do not return. Compared to a recidivism rate of 40-60% amongst the general
prison population, the return rate of long-termers convicted of murder (most
commonly people of advanced age) is the lowest (6.6%) system-wide, with only
1.3% returning for a new commitment.38 Dangerous behavior diminishes with
age. The very few elderly people who do return to prison generally do so because of a technical parole violation such as failing to report to a parole officer
or moving without notifying the officer.
There is often a misconception that when we refer to elderly people in prison
being released, we are only talking about those who have been severely damaged (either psychological or physically) by the prison experience, and who
would require some intense level of senior care. The truth is that there is a

36	 Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York:
The New Press.
37	 Raphael, S., Stoll, M. (2013). Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? New York: Russell Sage
Foundation.
38	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2007). 2007
Releases: Three Year Post Release Follow-up. Retrieved from http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/
Reports/2012/2007_releases_3yr_out.pdf.

8 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

large segment of low-risk elderly people in confinement who could make major
contributions to our communities and societies upon release. Prison administrators have long been aware that older people who have served long sentences are often the best resources behind the walls. They frequently serve as role
models, facilitate rehabilitation programs, and provide leadership—having
found meaning in life through service to others. The same would hold true
were these individuals released on parole into their communities. There are
countless examples of formerly incarcerated people, including elders, who play
prominent leadership roles in some of the most widely known and effective
re-entry programs.
Finally, there is a need to recognize that we will never dismantle mass incarceration by tinkering at the edges, i.e., opening the population spigot by discharging people with low-level convictions, many of whom, perhaps, should never
have been imprisoned in the first instance. A solution requires getting to the
essence of the punishment paradigm and building strategies for change based
on such a foundation. By urging that elders who pose no risk to public safety be
released despite continued calls for perpetual punishment, RAPP presents policy makers with a rational strategic plan. Our slogan: “If the risk is low, let them
go,” offers a rallying cry for this sensible answer to the crisis of aging in prison.
For policy makers to embrace this thinking and fight for laws and regulations
that reflect it, they will have to challenge some wrong-headed but popular
notions of crime. To do so will require commitment and leadership. RAPP and
other prison justice campaigns will do our best to provide popular support for
all who exhibit such leadership and commitment. Together we can change the
current crisis of aging in prison and, by extension, our country’s reliance on
mass incarceration to hide the very real social issues that face us. ■

Mujahid Farid is the lead organizer for Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
(RAPPCampaign.com; rappcampaign@gmail.com). He served 33 years in New York
prisons, during which time he earned degrees from Syracuse University, SUNY/New
Paltz, and New York Theological Seminary. He helped create the first HIV/AIDS peer
education program in NY prisons and a college certificate program sponsored by New
York Theological Seminary. He was a 2013 Soros Justice Fellow.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 9

2

Aging Behind Bars: Prison,
Punishment, Parole, and Human
Rights
Jamie Fellner
Senior Advisor, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch
Two years ago, I was at Fishkill Correctional Facility in New York, visiting a unit
for aging incarcerated people who had dementia. They were playing bingo, and
some of them had such advanced dementia that they needed staff to help them
put the markers on the cards. They were unable to do that for themselves.
Yet they were still in prison. I think that symbolizes the tragedy of—and the
lack of any rationale for—keeping people in prison past a certain point. To unravel the crisis of the rising population of older people behind bars, we need to
think about the purposes of punishment. We need to go back to first principles.
Holding people accountable for crime, especially a crime that has injured
someone in a very real and direct way, is indispensable to a criminal justice
system. But committing a crime or being convicted of a crime does not give the
state license to impose whatever punishment it wants.
There’s no flogging anymore, and we certainly don’t draw and quarter people.
But we do routinely, consistently, and continually impose punishments that
are nonetheless still cruel. From a human rights perspective, a prison sentence
can be cruel and inhuman punishment if it is disproportionately long relative
to the crime committed and the culpability of the individual. The principle of
parsimony is included in the concept of proportionality: the sentence imposed
should be no longer than necessary to achieve the purposes of punishment.
Excessively long sentences are perhaps most obvious with regard to drug
crimes. Drug trafficking warrants concern, but selling drugs should not routinely be considered a crime that demands sentences of 10, 20, or 30 years—
much less life without parole.
Crimes of violence get a little trickier. What kind of sentence is proportionate
for murder? We have to understand the grief, rage, and endless loss of people
who have lost loved ones to criminal violence. Their feelings deserve attention
and respect. But that does not answer the question of how much time in prison
is long enough for a just punishment but not so long as to become unjust. To do
so, we should begin by looking at the purposes of sentencing.
Those begin with retribution: someone should be punished because they have
done a terrible thing. Then we have incapacitation: we want to protect public
safety by keeping a person who has committed a crime locked up so he or she
cannot commit another crime. Deterrence: we want to send a message to the

10 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

offender or others that engaging in the criminal conduct will be punished, so
don’t do it. And finally, rehabilitation: we want people who commit crimes to
change so that they are less likely to do so again.
All of these purposes should factor into a sentence. But the balance among
those purposes of punishment changes as someone becomes old and infirm.
For instance, if somebody can’t even put the markers on a bingo card, are they
really a threat to society? If a former bank robber is permanently bedridden,
are prison bars necessary to keep him from robbing again? The need for incapacitation changes with aging.

From a human rights perspective, a prison sentence can be cruel and inhuman
punishment if it is disproportionately long relative to the crime committed and the
culpability of the individual.
In terms of deterrence, do we truly think that telling a 30 year-old: “you’re going to get out after 20 years,” as opposed to 30 years, makes much of a difference? Research suggests the length of sentences has minimal deterrent impact.
So we are back to retribution. How much is enough? I think we need to engage
with that conversation directly, not by minimizing the crimes that were committed, but by saying human rights require respect for the human dignity of every person, including people who have raped, maimed, and murdered. At some
point, respect for human dignity means a chance to reintegrate with society, a
chance to make amends, and a chance to have the criminal justice system acknowledge personal changes, whether those changes were due simply to growing up and aging, or to more intentional efforts at personal development. Even
if you have committed a crime as an older person—and unfortunately there
are many crimes committed by 50, 60, and 70 year-olds—you still can change.
That possibility of change has to be recognized in sentencing.
For starters, then, we object to disproportionately long determinate sentences,
including life sentences without the possibility of parole.
This brings us to problems with the parole system. The theoretical possibility
of parole is inherent in what are called indeterminate sentences in which the
sentence is typically set for a minimum and a maximum. After the minimum
has been served, the individual is eligible for release on parole up to the time
the maximum sentence has been served, when release is mandatory. In many
cases, a sentence is set for a fixed number of years as a minimum, with life as a
maximum. So, absent parole, the individual will die behind bars.
As best I can tell, parole boards often do not recognize a person’s capacity for
change over time. They frequently deny parole based on the original crime of
conviction, regardless of how long ago it was committed or evidence that the
person who committed the crime has changed.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 11

If indeterminate sentences are used, I would suggest a model based on the
purposes of punishment to determine actual time that someone should serve.
Take a sentence of 20 years to life imposed on an adult for a homicide. The first
20 years is for retribution. It is the punishment imposed as “just desserts” because of the crime. Once the minimum 20 years has passed, decisions whether
to grant parole should be based solely on considerations of public safety. The
“nature of the offense” alone should not be a sufficient basis to deny parole.
This is the way it is in some countries in Europe—a sentence that consists of a
“punishment tariff,” followed by continued incarceration only as necessary for
public safety.

Take a sentence of 20 years to life imposed on an adult for a homicide. The first 20
years is for retribution. It is the punishment imposed as “just deserts” because of the
crime. Once the minimum 20 years have passed, decisions whether to grant parole
should be based solely on considerations of public safety—and the “nature of the
offense” alone should not be a sufficient basis to deny parole.
If parole decision makers are going to deny parole for an individual, they
should be required to explain why the individual remains a public safety risk
by pointing to specific evidence of events or conduct subsequent to the crime.
They should be required to explain why, for example, the individual remains at
risk of recidivism if released despite good conduct in prison, the completion of
educational programs, and, where relevant, current physical or mental disabilities. The burden of proof that decision makers have to satisfy to deny parole
should become harder and harder to satisfy the longer the time the person has
spent in prison.
My research suggests this is not how parole processes typically work today in
New York or across the country. That is shown, perhaps most tellingly, in connection to medical parole. Most (though not all) states and the federal government have something called compassionate release or medical parole. These
are laws or regulations that are supposed to take into account age and infirmity. The actual decision makers vary in different jurisdictions, e.g. a parole
board, the director of corrections, or a governor. Regardless of the process, my
sense is that all too often, the nature of the crime trumps any other consideration, including the person’s current physical or mental condition. Many reasons lie behind the paucity of medical parole releases. Prosecutors work hard
to secure convictions, and they are often opposed to early release regardless of
whether the person is no longer capable of engaging in crime. Many politicians
still embrace a “tough on crime” attitude that will not accept the reality of individual change and rehabilitation. Some victims’ families and victims’ associations also oppose any early release, believing someone who has killed should
never leave prison except “in a pine box.”

12 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

I realize that deep convictions may lie behind such beliefs,
but criminal justice must be about more than retribution—
or politics and pandering to fear. It must include rational,
careful, and individualized decisions about the public safety risk an individual might pose if released from prison.
Assessing the risk that someone released from prison
will commit another crime is neither easy nor foolproof.
Indeed, risk assessment instruments used today by criminal justice agencies are still quite flawed in the accuracy of
their predictions. They give, for example, too much weight
to the crime of conviction. Yet research has shown that people who commit violent crimes such as murder tend to have the lowest rates
of recidivism. In other words, they’re the lowest risk. And the likelihood of
criminal conduct also declines markedly with age, which is something that the
instruments also sometimes fail to properly weigh. There are also important
factors that may not be captured in risk assessment instruments but that nonetheless bear on the likelihood of recidivism, e.g. health status, mental wherewithal, or the desire to spend remaining days with children or grandchildren.
Parole decision makers also reject parole requests because they are not willing
to tolerate any risk—even an infinitesimally small risk—that the parolee might
commit a horrific crime. The shadow of Willie Horton colors the parole process
(even though Horton had been released on furlough, not parole). Yet risk is inherent in the human condition. If we did a risk assessment of everyone in this
room, for example, who knows what we would find? We have to start becoming a little more comfortable with the idea that there’s always going to be some
risk, since human beings are mysterious. Our futures cannot be foretold just by
adding up some numbers, and the past is not always the best predictor of the
future.
I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be risk assessments. But we should use risk
assessment instruments with caution, and the process should retain a role for
human judgment—flawed as it also is—in making release decisions.
Even if parole decision makers are required to pay due attention to post-incarceration conduct and circumstances and not rely on the crime of conviction,
how would we know if they have in fact done so? The parole process lacks
transparency. The general public may not attend parole hearings, and hearing
transcripts are not public. Parole decision makers usually do not have to explain their decisions—they simply vote thumbs up or thumbs down.
They do not have to articulate why they believe a person who has completed
the lower end of a sentence continues to pose a risk and should remain behind
bars—often despite age and infirmity. We, the public, have no way of knowing
whether principle or prejudice motivated their decisions; whether their vote
was arbitrary or based on careful consideration of all the evidence.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 13

The importance of parole and early release decisions is growing as the prison population ages. In a 2012 report, Old Behind Bars, Human Rights Watch
reported the soaring number and percentage of aging people in prison.39 For
example, between 1995 and 2010, the prison population aged 55 or older nearly
quadrupled, and grew at seven times the rate of the overall prison population.
Yet, as we documented, prison is especially punishing for the elderly. Prisons
are not designed for people who need wheelchairs, walkers, portable oxygen tanks; who cannot get dressed without help or haul themselves to the top
bunk; who are incontinent; who have Alzheimer’s; or who are permanently
bedridden. Since illness tends to increase with age, older incarcerated peoples’
medical costs are three to nine times as high as those for younger incarcerated
people.
Cost is part of the crisis of the aging population in prison. Those men who
needed help placing markers onto a bingo card are costing New York State an
enormous amount.
But cost is not the fundamental argument for ensuring (through parole, medical parole, and compassionate release processes) that people do not remain in
prison after continued incarceration no longer serves the purposes of punishment. The fundamental argument is one of human rights. The United States is
party to key human rights treaties that set boundaries on punishment, including the length of sentences, but they are not self-executing. You cannot go into
court and say, “I have a human right to a just sentence or to early release.” But
the human rights framework offers a way of reminding ourselves—and public
officials—that we are dealing with human beings who, by virtue of their humanity, have rights, including the right to a fair sentence that is proportionate
to the crime and their culpability.
While a prison term may have been proportionate at the time it was originally
imposed, increasing age and infirmity may change the calculus against continued incarceration in favor of some form of medical or compassionate release.
If the sentence was indeterminate, age and infirmity should factor heavily into
a parole decision. Unfortunately, I suspect most state legislators and corrections officials here in New York and elsewhere have no idea that they have human rights obligations—much less what they require. I believe putting forward
practical, sensible, and rights-respecting alternatives to the current system of
sentencing and release will enhance human rights in this country over time,
and is essential to reducing not only the scope of incarceration overall in this
country, but also the growth of our aging prison population. ■

39	 Human Rights Watch, Old Behind Bars; The Aging Prison Population in the United States, 2012,
available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/01/27/old-behind-bars-0.

14 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

3

The Growth and Politicization of Life
Imprisonment
Marc Mauer
Executive Director, The Sentencing Project
I first began working on prison and sentencing issues in Michigan in the 1970s.
I spent quite a bit of time over the years visiting at Jackson Prison, described
at the time as “the largest walled prison in the world,”40 which then held about
5,000 people behind bars. Over time I got to know many of the lifers at the prison, some of whom had developed an advocacy and support group: the National
Lifers Association. Because of their desire to educate the public about the issues revolving around life imprisonment, we jointly developed a prison visitation program that involved bringing members of church or community groups
to spend an afternoon with the lifers and to learn something about their lives.
I believe that every person who participated in the program was significantly
changed by the experience.
Two things emerged from that experience for me: first, visitors were changed
by their interactions with the lifers, because the visitations allowed them to
break down their stereotypes of lifers and incarcerated people in general—in
particular, to address common prejudices many people share regarding this
population. Rather than being defined as “armed robbers” or the perpetrators
of some other serious crime, they became 30- and 40-year old men who had
committed serious harm at one point in their lives, but who (in most cases)
were now very different from the 19-year olds who had been sentenced to life
in prison. To varying degrees, they expressed remorse, insight, and generally a
strong desire to have a second chance in life.
Second, in a significant number of cases, those men actually did have an opportunity to gain a second chance. At the time, it was not unusual for a person sentenced to life with the possibility of parole to be granted release after serving
15-18 years with good behavior. Judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys all
knew of this policy on the day of sentencing, and there was little debate about
its merits. Even among those sentenced to life without parole, release was
occasionally possible through a gubernatorial commutation. One such person
I came to know well over the years, who was incarcerated for felony murder,
was granted release after serving 21 years in prison. He went on to earn a
Ph.D. in African Studies and is now a tenured professor at a major Midwestern
university.
Of course, many lifers are never released from prison, or they are released only
after decades behind bars. But as we look at the landscape of American prisons
40	 Experience Jackson. Experience Jackson’s Prison History. Retrieved from http://www.experiencejackson.com/things-to-do/attractions/prison.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 15

today, one of the most striking features of mass incarceration is the degree to
which the number of sentences of life imprisonment has exploded in recent
decades. One of every nine people in prison is now serving a life sentence—
nearly a third of them life without parole.41 The implications of these developments for public safety, control of prison growth, and societal compassion are
quite profound. In this essay I trace the expansion of the use of life sentences,
the effects of these changes on the prison population, and their significance for
long-term incarcerated people.

The Growth of Life Sentences
Life sentences have been included in most states’ sentencing structures for well
over a century. While there is little comprehensive data on the use of life sentences until recent decades, it is apparent that for much of this period life sentences were imposed with the assumption of the possibility of parole release
within a reasonable period of time.42 In the federal prison system, for example,
as far back as 1913, parole reviews took place after an individual served 15
years in prison.43 Today, since the advent of the federal sentencing guidelines in
1987, all federal life sentences are now imposed without parole.44
Data in recent decades demonstrate the high growth rate of life imprisonment.
In 1984, about 34,000 people were serving life sentences. Today, more than
159,000 are serving such prison terms.45 As a result of these changes, 10.6% of
persons in state or federal prisons are currently serving a life sentence.46
Moreover, this has been a disproportionate increase in the number of people
sentenced to life without the option of parole. Nearly a third of incarcerated
persons serving life sentences are not eligible for parole. In just four years,
from 2008 to 2012, these figures increased by 22%; during the same period,
the overall prison population and the rate of violent crime actually declined.
Among the 49,000 persons serving life sentences without the option of parole,
an estimated 2,600 were sentenced for crimes that were committed when they
were under the age of 18. Currently, the United States is the only country in the

41	 Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. The Sentencing
Project. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20
On%202013.pdf.
42	 Mauer, M., King, R. S., Young, M. C. (2004). The Meaning of “Life”: Long Prison Sentences in
Context. The Sentencing Project. Retrieved from http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_meaningoflife.pdf.
43	 Fulwood, I. (2003, May). History of the Federal Parole System. U.S. Department of Justice, 7.
Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/uspc/legacy/2009/10/07/history.pdf.
44	 Nellis, A. (2010). Throwing Away the Key: The Expansion of Life without Parole Sentences in the
United States. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 23(1). Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/
doc/publications/inc_federalsentencingreporter.pdf.
45	 Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. The Sentencing
Project. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20
On%202013.pdf.
46	 Id.

16 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

world to continue the practice of sentencing children to life
in prison without parole.47
Unfortunately, in many states, people sentenced to life with
the possibility of parole have found that being granted
parole is increasingly unlikely. Whereas previously a judge
may have sentenced a defendant to life with parole for an
armed robbery with the belief that the individual might
earn release after 15-20 years, in many instances, such a
possibility has now been all but erased. In California, in
recent decades, it has not been uncommon for lifers to go
before the parole board with a letter of support from their
sentencing judge and still be denied parole release.48
We have also seen an unfortunate and sharp decline in the use of the power of pardon and commutation by executives at the state and federal levels.
Previously, governors and presidents exercised their powers of mercy to recognize either the injustice of excessive sentences or individual rehabilitation.
Today, however, political considerations trump humanitarian ones. The scale
of this decline can be seen quite dramatically at the presidential level, where
the proportion of such requests approved by the White House declined from
33% during the Reagan era to 12% under Bill Clinton, to 3% under George W.
Bush, and just 2% during the first term of the Obama administration.49 While
the Obama administration has recently issued a call to the defense bar to submit more commutation requests for consideration, during the first five years of
his administration, the President issued only 52 pardons and 9 commutations.
Meanwhile, the federal prison population exceeds 200,000 people.50
Some international context and comparison may help to provide perspective
on the exceptional nature of American policies on life sentences. A 2013 ruling
by the European Court of Human Rights found that the penalty of life without
parole in the United Kingdom violated human rights norms by not permitting
the consideration of release at some point.51 At the time of the ruling, 49 persons were serving such sentences in the U.K. This contrasts with the 49,000 people serving such sentences in the U.S. (or 1,000 times as many as in the U.K.),

47	 Sheriff, N. (2015, March 9). UN Expert Slams US as Only Nation to Imprison Kids for Life Without
Parole. Al Jazeera America. Retrieved from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/9/un-expert-slams-us-as-only-nation-to-sentence-kids-to-life-without-parole.html.
48	 See Weinstein, H. (2007, August 4). Battered Woman to Be Freed after Killing Man in ‘86. Los
Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2007/aug/04/local/me-battered4.
49	 Linzer, D. (2012, November 2). Obama Has Granted Clemency More Rarely Than Any
Modern President. ProPublica. Retrieved from http://www.propublica.org/article/
obama-has-granted-clemency-more-rarely-than-any-modern-president/.
50	 Federal Bureau of Prisons. Population Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.jsp.
51	 Case of Vinter and Others v. The United Kingdom (Applications nos. 66069/09, 130/10 and 3896/10).
European Court of Human Rights (9 July 2013).

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 17

even though our population is only four times as large.52 To date there have
been no successful legal challenges to such prison terms in the U.S. aside from
the significant but relatively modest number of people affected by rulings on
juveniles serving sentences of life without the option of parole.53
In addition to the dramatic increase in the number of incarcerated people serving life sentences in the U.S., there are a substantial number of people currently in prison who are serving sentences that essentially equate to a life prison
term (known colloquially as a “virtual” or de facto life sentence). A sentence of
60 years or more imposed on a defendant in his or her 20’s or 30’s essentially
means that that individual will never be released from prison. There are no
hard data on the number of people serving such terms, but anecdotal evidence
suggests that these figures are rising as well.54

The Driving Forces of Life Imprisonment
The growing number of people serving long-term and life sentences in the
United States results from several factors. Foremost among these is the overall
expansion of the prison system since the early 1970s.55 As a result of the “tough
on crime” political environment during the 1980s and 1990s, revised sentencing policies had the effect of lengthening sentences for most offenses. Life sentences also proliferated.
In the mid-1990s, these sentencing trends were magnified by the implementation of “three strikes and you’re out” laws that generally mandated a life
sentence upon the conviction of three violent offenses. Originally introduced
in the state of Washington in 1994, a rush to develop similar policies took hold
around the country. By the end of the decade, half of the states had enacted
such measures.56 The California “three strikes” policy was by far the most extreme. In that state, the first two strikes had to be “serious or violent” felonies
as defined by statute, but the third strike could be any felony offense, no matter
how minor. The third strike conviction would result in a mandatory prison
term of 25 years to life. In one of the two cases which challenged the constitutionality of the law in the U.S. Supreme Court, the individual’s third strike was
for stealing three golf clubs from a sporting goods store;57 the plaintiff in the
second case was convicted of stealing $153 worth of videotapes from a K-Mart

52	 Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. The Sentencing
Project. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20
On%202013.pdf.
53	 Graham v. Florida, U.S., 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010), Miller v. Alabama, U.S., 132, S. Ct. 2455 (2012).
54	 Villaume, A. C. (2005). ‘Life Without Parole’ and ‘Virtual Life Sentences’: Death Sentences by Any
Other Name. Contemporary Justice Review, 8(3).
55	 Pettit, B., Western, B. (2004). Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in
U.S. Incarceration. American Sociological Review, 69(2).
56	 Lucken, K., Blomberg, T. G. (2012). American Corrections: Reform without Change. In The Oxford
Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections, ed. Petersilia, J., Reitz, K. R.
57	 Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003).

18 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

store.58 The Court rejected the argument that the policy represented “cruel
and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment, deferring instead to
the legislature’s prerogative to set penalties to meet public safety objectives. It
was not until 2012 that the state law was amended through a ballot measure
that now requires that the third strike be of the same severity as the first two
strikes.59
The movement toward the more frequent use of life sentences was spurred in
part by the U.S. Supreme Court’s striking down capital punishment in 1972.60
Although that ban only lasted for four years, legislative bodies in some states
reacted to this perceived gap in harsh sentencing by creating life sentences
without the option of parole. Many of these states had been ones in which all
life sentences previously had included a parole option. This trend accelerated
throughout the 1990s, and today all states except Alaska have a life without
parole statute.61
Support for the policy of life without parole has been employed as a campaign
strategy not only by “tough on crime” hardliners, but by death penalty abolitionists as well. In state campaigns to end the death penalty, a number of
which have been successful in recent years, leaders have frequently sought
to assuage the fears of the public by arguing that life sentences without the
option of parole will ensure that convicted individuals will never be released
from prison. While such arguments are understandable when dealing with an
issue as fraught with emotion as the death penalty, such policies have still led
to excessive punishments in many cases. An examination of the expansion of
life sentences without the option of parole demonstrates that these sentences
are applied in cases well beyond those in which the defendant might have been
subject to a death sentence. Now they are frequently imposed in cases in which
people would previously have been eligible for parole consideration.
Ironically, the expansion of life sentences has at times been bolstered by the
criminal justice reform movement. This has come about as some advocacy
campaigns have developed sentencing reform proposals that categorize the
prison population in terms of the offenses of conviction. Thus, proponents of
schemes to divert people convicted of low-level drug offenses from incarceration have often framed their proposals with the reasoning that such diversion
is needed in order to create institutional space for people convicted of violent
crimes “who need to be there.” In one of the more extreme of such instances, a spokesperson for the 2012 “three strikes” reform campaign in California
argued that “[w]hat voters wanted in the first place was to make sure the
58	 Lockyer v. Andrade, 538 U.S. 63 (2003).
59	 State of California Attorney General. Proposition 36. Retrieved from http://vig.cdn.sos.
ca.gov/2012/general/pdf/36-title-summ-analysis.pdf.
60	 Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).
61	 Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. The Sentencing
Project. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20
On%202013.pdf.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 19

truly most violent monsters are locked up forever” (emphasis added).62 If the
advocates for reform describe people serving long-term sentences as “monsters,” one can only imagine how such people are portrayed by individuals and
groups that oppose efforts to reduce prison populations.

Consequences of Excessive Sentences
Excessive long-term incarceration is counterproductive to public safety goals
and contributes to a system that is unjust and lacking in compassion. While
long-term sentences are premised in large part on considerations of public
safety (to incapacitate persons who present a serious threat to the community), this rationale produces diminishing returns over time. It is well established that older people, including those in prison, largely “age out” of crime.
For example, arrest rates for violent crime within three years of release from
prison for persons aged 40 or older are half that of released persons who are 24
or younger.63 In addition, incarceration costs for an increasingly elderly prison
population continue to rise, in large part due to the health care needs of persons over 50.64 Thus, lengthy incarceration does little to protect the public, at an
increasingly high cost.

While long-term sentences are premised in large part on considerations of public
safety—to incapacitate persons who present a serious threat to the community—
this rationale produces diminishing returns over time. It is well established that older
people, including those in prison, largely ‘age out’ of crime.
Some might argue that such expenditures are worthwhile even if they provide
only a modest impact on public safety. Public safety resources, however, are
finite, and excessive spending on incarceration diverts resources from other
efforts, which, whether within the criminal justice system or through socioeconomic interventions that have been demonstrated to produce more cost-effective results, may be equally or more productive.
Recent trends in state prison populations show that long-term incarceration
also challenges efforts to reduce the nation’s rates of imprisonment by any
substantial amount. With regard to drug offenses, a combination of sentencing
reforms and various programs that divert people from prison to drug treatment centers has resulted in a modest decline in prison populations sentenced
for such offenses. Substantial declines may be seen, for example, in states such
62	 Lagos, M. (2011, November 28). ‘3 Strikes’: Proposed Law Tries to Restore Intent. San Francisco
Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/3-strikes-Proposed-law-tries-torestore-intent-2296566.php.
63	 Durose, M. R., Cooper, A. D., Snyder, H. N. (2014, April). Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30
States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010. US Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.
bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/rprts05p0510.pdf.
64	 Williams, B., Abraldes, R. (2007). Growing Older: Challenges of Prison and Reentry for the Aging
Population. In Public Health Behind Bars, ed. Greifinger, R. NY: Springer.

20 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

as New York.65 The overall result is a decrease in the number of people serving
sentences for drug offenses. Indeed, rates have declined from about one in four
people in state prisons to one in six.66
Conversely, because of increasing numbers of individuals sentenced to life
imprisonment and long-term sentences, with declining parole rates in many
jurisdictions, the proportion of the national prison population that consists of
people serving terms for violent offenses has now risen to half of that current
population.67 Therefore, without policy reforms, prison reduction strategies
will be necessarily limited.
Finally, excessive incarceration is an affront to common notions of justice itself.
The deprivation of liberty may be justified on the grounds of public safety or
notions of just punishment, but this should never be greater than necessary
to achieve such objectives. Current policy and practice regarding long-term
incarceration falls short of those principles. In the 21st century we should do
better. ■

Marc Mauer is one of the country’s leading experts on sentencing policy, race and the
criminal justice system. He has directed programs on criminal justice policy reform
for more than 30 years and serves as Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, a
national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy. Mr. Mauer has written extensively and testified before Congress and other
legislative bodies. His critically acclaimed book, Race to Incarcerate, was named a
semifinalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and he is the co-editor of Invisible
Punishment, a collection of essays that examine the social costs of incarceration. Mr.
Mauer frequently lectures before a broad range of national and international audiences, appears regularly on television and radio networks, and has served as an adjunct
faculty member at George Washington University and Payne Theological Seminary. Mr.
Mauer is the recipient of the Donald Cressey Award for contributions to criminal justice
research, the Alfred Lindesmith Award for drug policy scholarship, and the Maud Booth
Award for correctional services.

65	 Mauer, M., Ghandnoosh, N. (2014). Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime: A Tale of Three States. The
Sentencing Project, 5. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Fewer_
Prisoners_Less_Crime.pdf.
66	 Carson, E. A., Golinelli, D. (2013, July). Prisoners in 2012: Advance Counts. US Department of
Justice. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p12ac.pdf.
67	 Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. The Sentencing
Project. Retrieved from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20
On%202013.pdf.

Identifying the Roots of the Problem 21

“I hope my story will get the parole board to
reconsider denying older people parole and instead
give them a chance to come home and contribute
to society in a meaningful way.”
Gloria Rubero, member of the Aging Reentry Task Force
and caring for elderly parent
Age: 65 | Years in prison: 26

Experience
Inside and
Consequences

4

Older Adults in the New York State
Prison System
Brian Fischer
Former Commissioner, New York State Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision
This paper presents a brief discussion of how best to address the needs of the
elderly prison population in New York State. Elderly incarcerated individuals
(described herein as those 50 years of age and older) make up approximately
17% of the total prison population in New York State, and the number of elderly incarcerated individuals increased by 266 people between 2013 and 2014.68
Relevant constituencies in the prison system and the community must work
together and take appropriate steps to meet the particular needs, discussed
below, of this special population in the prison system. While there is encouraging evidence that some of the salient issues unique to the elderly incarcerated are receiving increased attention within the New York State Department
of Corrections and Community Services (“DOCCS”),69 more can and should be
done to care appropriately for older adults in the prison system. In this paper,
I will describe the principal challenges that the elderly incarcerated present
to the prison system, and propose three policy initiatives that, if adopted, will
begin to address exigencies related to this special population.
Like many of those of advanced age in the community, elderly incarcerated
individuals often face significant health issues related to the normal aging
process. Notably, recent research indicates that the elderly incarcerated often
suffer worse health outcomes than those in their age cohort in the general
population.70 For example, members of the elderly incarcerated population
experience chronic illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and psychiatric illnesses) at higher rates than older adults who are not incarcerated.71
Moreover, the elderly incarcerated are significantly more likely to suffer from
certain lifestyle-related medical conditions (e.g., advanced liver disease due to
alcohol use and/or viral hepatitis, end-stage renal disease due to drug use and/
or HIV) than those in the general population, and are especially vulnerable to

68	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2014). Under Custody
Report: Profile of Under Custody Population As of January 1, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.
doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2014/UnderCustody_Report_2014.pdf.
69	 Cortella, L. (2015). New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
(DOCCS) Discharge Planning Barriers: Potential Solutions. Center for Justice at Columbia
University.
70	 Fazel, S., Hope, T., O’Donnell, I., Piper, M., Jacoby, R. (2001). Health of Elderly Male Prisoners:
Worse Than the General Population, Worse Than Younger Prisoners. Age and Aging, 30(5),
403-407.
71	 Id.

24 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

acute infections within the prison setting (e.g., influenza and pneumonia).72,73
Indeed, findings from several scholars suggest that incarcerated individuals are
medically as much as 10 years older than their chronological age.74,75
Moreover, many in the elderly prison population suffer from cognitive deficits
associated with advanced age.76 Court liaison referrals for incarcerated people
over the age of 60 have found estimates for rates of dementia nationally ranging from 19 to 30%.77 Although there is limited data regarding the prevalence
of age-related cognitive impairments among incarcerated individuals in New
York State, it is reasonable to assume, based on rates of dementia and related
conditions in the general population, that as older populations in the New York
State prison system continue to age, the number of cognitively impaired incarcerated individuals will grow.78,79
Finally, data from DOCCS provide further evidence of the heightened health
risks and accelerated aging of the elderly incarcerated. For example, from 2001
to 2012, the highest rate of prison mortality (by age group) due to illness was
among those aged 51 to 60 years.80 In addition, of the 115 individuals who died
in the New York State prison system in 2012, 34 were between the ages of 55
and 64 (30%), and 17 were 65 or older (15%).81
DOCCS operates special Regional Medical Units for the most seriously ill in the
prison population, including those who suffer from hepatitis C, AIDS, terminal
cancer, and chronic lung disease.82 In 2010, of the 306 people receiving care in
these units, 71% were over 50 and 34% were over 65.83 Costs associated with
the care of this elderly prison population are significantly higher than those as-

72	 Id.
73	 Williams, B., Abraldes, R. (2007). Growing Older: Challenges of Prison and Reentry for the Aging
Population. In Public Health Behind Bars (56-72). New York: Springer.
74	 Loeb, S. J., Abudagga, A. (2006). Health-Related Research on Older Inmates: An Integrative
Review. Research in Nursing & Health, 29(6).
75	 Aday, R. H. (2003). Aging Prisoners: Crisis in American Corrections. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
76	 Id.
77	 Id.
78	 Williams and Abraldes. (2007).
79	 Maschi. T., Kwak, J., Ko, E., Morrissey, M. B. (2012). Forget Me Not: Dementia in Prison. The
Gerontologist, 52(4).
80	 Noonan, M.E., Ginder, S. (2014). Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000-2012 – Statistical
Tables. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
81	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2013). Inmate
Mortality Report: 2009-2012. Retrieved from http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2013/
Inmate_Mortality_Report_2009-2012.pdf.
82	 Roth, A. N. (2012). Aging in Prison: A look at Prison Health Care Facilities. Utica Observer-Dispatch.
83	 Murphy, J. (2011). Older Inmate Population Grows, Puts Strain on System. Auburn Citizen.

Experience Inside and Consequences 25

sociated with the younger prison population, and will likely grow as the prison
population continues to age.84
Meeting the special needs of the elderly prison population will require careful
and coordinated planning by DOCCS, the government, and partners in the community. To this end, I propose three approaches to address the special needs
of our aging prison population in New York State: (i) ensuring the provision of
age-appropriate healthcare, both for our elderly incarcerated population and
elderly parolees upon their release into the community; (ii) giving special consideration to the needs of the elderly incarcerated in the design of prison spaces and programs; and (iii) parole board, legislative, and/or executive planning
and action providing for the early release of elderly incarcerated individuals in
appropriate circumstances under both extant and wise new policies. I discuss
each of these approaches below.

Provision of Age-appropriate Healthcare
The New York State prison system sponsors several programs tailored to address special needs of various members of the prison population. For example,
DOCCS provides mental health units, treatment programs for sex offenders, educational programs, rehabilitative programs related to drug and alcohol abuse,
and transitional programs.85 However, there are few programs that specifically
address issues unique to the elderly incarcerated. Moreover, although elderly incarcerated individuals receive medical check-ups, the concept of geriatric medicine is still relatively new in the prison setting.86 Moreover, whereas
health services staff in our prisons are given training related to illnesses like
AIDS and hepatitis,87 every effort should be given to provide training related to
conditions associated specifically with the elderly population, including age-related cognitive and physical deficits and other illnesses that that affect the aged
at high rates.
For elderly incarcerated people with serious medical needs, there are Regional
Medical Units and the Walsh Medical Unit at Mohawk Correctional Facility.88
Each handles cases where constant medical attention is required. There is a
need to expand this unit to include an Assisted Living Unit for those who are
physically, cognitively, or otherwise unfit for general prison population units.
Whether or not such a unit is established will depend upon sufficient funding
by the state. We must build broad coalitions in the prison system and the com-

84	 Anno, B. J., Graham, C., Lawrence, J. E., Shansky, R. (2004). Correctional Health Care: Addressing
the Needs of Elderly, Chronically Ill, and Terminally Ill Inmates. Middletown, CT: Criminal Justice
Institute.
85	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Executive Directive
#4803.
86	 See generally, Williams and Abraldes. (2007).
87	 Cortella. (2015).
88	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Executive Directive
#0095.

26 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

munity to educate relevant stakeholders and policymakers
about the necessity of this expansion.
In addition, the prison system must take appropriate steps
to meet the continuing, age-specific needs of elderly parolees upon their release into the community. For example,
upon release from prison, many parolees do not have sufficient connections to community-based medical resources, including those that provide access to medications that
may be necessary for parolees’ health and well-being.89
Through appropriate discharge planning, we can better
serve the immediate medical needs of elderly parolees and
ensure that they have the resources and knowledge to provide for their continuous care after release. Moreover, parole officers who are called upon to assist
elderly parolees as they transition back into their local communities should
receive education and training in order to better understand the needs of
this aging population. Parole officers are in an especially good position to observe the physical and psychological conditions of elderly parolees. Education
about conditions that might affect elderly parolees, including cognitive and
physical deficits, could enable parole officers to discharge their duties with appropriate care.

Consideration of Needs of the Elderly Population in Prison Design and
Programming
Physical conditions affecting the elderly prison population can present additional challenges in correctional settings. Indeed, many prison facilities, including especially those that were built prior to passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, are poorly suited to house individuals with age-related
physical limitations. Many prisons in New York State have large cellblocks
that require incarcerated people to climb up and down narrow stairways in
order to navigate the premises: a difficult and often painful process for many
in our elderly population. Moreover, in many of our medium-security prisons,
individuals are required to walk considerable distances to and from their dormitories in order to participate actively in daily life.90,91 These prison conditions
may take a particularly significant toll on the elderly incarcerated population,
exacerbating existing physical medical conditions—and, for some, leading to
isolation and related depression. In addition, in some cases, exposure to the
general prison population can present challenges for the elderly incarcerated. Although contact with younger people can be beneficial for a number of

89	 Cortella. (2015).
90	 Williams and Abraldes. (2007).
91	 Williams, B. A., et al., (2006). Being Old and Doing Time: Functional Impairment and Adverse
Experiences of Geriatric Female Prisoners. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 54(4).

Experience Inside and Consequences 27

reasons (e.g., receipt of informal caregiving,92,93 respect, and prestige94), studies
have found that older incarcerated individuals often fear and/or are vulnerable to victimization at the hands of their younger counterparts.95,96 Prison staff
should be aware of those in the prison population who are of more advanced
age, and make appropriate efforts to monitor their safety.
Moving forward, DOCCS and other policymakers should address these special needs of the elderly by, among other things, providing living units better
equipped to accommodate functional limitations associated with those of more
advanced age. In addition, if new correctional facilities are built in New York
State in the future, consideration for the placement and particular needs of
elderly people should be factored into their design. In the meantime, to the
extent possible, efforts should be made by DOCCS and prison staff to provide
programming and resources in close proximity to the dwelling spaces of the
elderly population.

Early Release of the Elderly Incarcerated
New York State’s Compassionate Release Program currently provides, in certain
circumstances, for early release of the most seriously ill in the prison population.97 Pursuant to the Compassionate Release Program, some incarcerated
individuals suffering from terminal and some non-terminal illnesses (as well
as people who are cognitively incapable of presenting a danger to society)
may qualify for release before the completion of their sentences.98 According
to Lynn Cortella, a Healthcare Classification Analyst at DOCCS’ Central Office,
DOCCS is increasingly proactive in its efforts to ensure the appropriate application of this program.99 This is an important step in addressing the end-of-life
needs—and respecting the dignity—of a portion of the elderly incarcerated
population.
However, more should be done to provide for the early release of many of the
elderly incarcerated, both under this provision and pursuant to the establish-

92	 Mara, C. M. (2003). A Comparison of LTC in Prisons and in the Free Population. Long-Term Care
Interface.
93	 Crawley, E., Sparks, R. (2006). Is There Life after Imprisonment? How Elderly Men Talk About
Imprisonment and Release. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6(1).
94	 Lemieux, C. M., Dyeson, T. B., Castiglione, B. (2002). Revisiting the Literature on Prisoners Who Are
Older: Are We Wiser? The Prison Journal, 82(4).
95	 Aday (2003).
96	 Kerbs, J. J., Jolley, J. M. (2007). Inmate-on-Inmate Victimization Among Older Male Prisoners.
Crime & Delinquency, 53(2).
97	 NY Executive Law. Section 259-R, Release on Medical Parole for Terminally Ill Inmates; Section
259-S, Release on Medical Parole for Inmates Suffering Significant Debilitating Illnesses.
98	 Although most terminally ill inmates are eligible for consideration, sections 259-R and 259-S of
the NY Executive Law deem any inmate serving a sentence for murder in the first degree, or an
attempt to commit murder in the first degree, or conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree,
ineligible for medical parole.
99	 Cortella. (2015).

28 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

ment of wise, compassionate, and cost-saving policies by DOCCS and the legislative and executive branches of government in New York State. First, notwithstanding efforts described by DOCCS, in too many cases, the Compassionate
Release Program is not applied to qualified individuals, including those receiving care in long-term medical units and/or the Unit for the Cognitively
Impaired (Alzheimer’s Unit).100 This leaves those who present the least risk to
the safety of the general population in correctional custody,101 at great expense
to taxpayers.

...more should be done to provide for the early release of many of the elderly
incarcerated…pursuant to the establishment of wise, compassionate, and cost-saving
policies by DOCCS and the legislative and executive branches of government in New
York State.
In addition, in their application of the Compassionate Release Program, DOCCS
and Board of Parole must consider, among other things, whether people subject
to early parole have appropriate places to go upon release, which, too often,
are not available. In many cases, hospitals and nursing homes are not eager to
accept these potential parolees due to the stigma related to criminal identity,
as well as potential costs related to care that might not be covered by Medicaid
or other applicable insurance. Thus, in some instances, seriously ill people
subject to release remain in prison longer than necessary because of lack of an
acceptable residence in the community. DOCCS should continue and expand
important efforts to educate the community about both the continuing needs of
our elderly parolees and the low risk they present to the community. Education
and collaboration with our partners in the community are important means
through which we can meet the needs of elderly incarcerated individuals qualified for compassionate release.
Given the lack of appropriate community placement options, DOCCS and the
legislature should consider novel and cost-effective solutions to the problem of
providing housing and care for those qualified for early release, including, e.g.,
state or joint state/privately-funded arrangements. Pursuant to such an initiative, the cost of caring for someone released on medical parole could be shared
among Medicaid and state and private funding. Moving individuals out of
prisons in this manner could save taxpayers money and lead to the appropriate
release of qualified elderly individuals.
But the most ill among the elderly incarcerated are not the only people who
should be considered for early release. Research has shown that rates of recidivism decrease significantly with age, with the elderly incarcerated presenting
100	 Haverty, N. (2013). Dying Inmates in NY Struggle to Get Home. North County Public Radio.
101	 Travis, J., Western, B., Redburn, S. (2014). The Growth of Incarceration in the United States:
Exploring Causes and Consequences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Experience Inside and Consequences 29

the lowest risk of offending after release from prison.102,103 In both medical and
non-medical parole proceedings, the advanced age of the incarcerated individual should thus be given considerable attention. In addition, policymakers
should consider the promulgation of wise laws providing, in appropriate circumstances, for the early release of members of the elderly incarcerated population regardless of their medical condition. By establishing innovative policies
providing for early release of more of the elderly prison population, leaders in
New York State can effect important change in addressing the problem of mass
incarceration in the United States, effecting considerable cost-savings while ensuring the safety of the community.

By establishing innovative policies providing for early release of more of the
elderly prison population, leaders in New York State can effect important change
in addressing the problem of mass incarceration in the United States—effecting
considerable cost-savings while ensuring the safety of the community.
Because research has shown that individuals who serve long sentences and
may be considered elderly have the lowest rate of recidivism among all incarcerated groups,104,105 several speakers and symposium participants called for
the release, by the Board of Parole, of elderly parole applicants at their first
board hearing. While on the surface such calls for action seem reasonable, a
more careful case-by-case assessment should be emphasized. Factors such as
the age of the individual at the time of the crime; his or her behavior while in
prison; and post-release planning options must be considered. Just as the nature of the crime should not be automatically held against the individual, his or
her age should not automatically be seen as the rationale for release.
In this paper, I have outlined policy proposals directed at providing for the special needs of the elderly incarcerated population in New York State. Through effective communication and collaboration among relevant constituencies in the
prison system, government, and the community, we can take important steps to
meet the needs of those of advanced age in the justice system and the safety of
the community. ■

102	 Pew Center on the States. (2011). State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons.
Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States.
103	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.
104	 Pew Center on the States. (2011). State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons.
Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States.
105	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.

30 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

5

The Prospect of Aging in Prison: A
Long-termer’s Perspective
Larry White
Hope Lives for Lifers Project
A major problem facing the New York State prison system is the increase in
both numbers and financial costs of long-term and elderly segments of the prison population. The aged and elderly in prison come from two primary sources:
those who enter the prison system when they are already elderly or aging, and
those who grow old and elderly during their prison confinement.
The rising number of elderly and geriatric persons in the prison system is due
to the extended confinement of persons sentenced to long-term sentences and
continual parole denials. The high human and financial costs of long-term
incarceration can be attributed to the Prison Aging Process. The Prison Aging
Process refers to a dynamic of physical and mental decline involving three specific segments of the prison population: persons serving long-term sentences
(15 years or more); persons 55 years and older classified as “elderly”; and elderly persons who suffer infirmities that require special care and are classified as
“geriatric.”
The Prison Aging Process is a natural consequence of: (1) lengthy prison sentences; (2) extended periods of time served in prison; and (3) health-related decline associated with the rigors of prevailing prison conditions. The pervasive
use of long prison sentences is certainly a major cause of the problem, as are
current parole release policies that result in extended periods of confinement
served in prison. A third and critical cause of the problem relates to the rigors
of prevailing prison conditions that entail the pains and deprivation of imprisonment, and the daily stress and strains a long-termer must endure, including
the invasion of his/her privacy and the long-term loss of autonomy. 
One of the most stressful aspects of time in prison is the prospect of growing
old and vulnerable there. For the person serving a long-term sentence, aging
in prison presents serious questions regarding survival throughout the various
stages of the sentence. That struggle for survival begins upon admission into
the prison system as a “novice long-termer.” A “novice long-termer” is a person
who is beginning a long-term prison sentence that entails the service of 15
years or more before becoming eligible for release. As a novice, a long-termer
must adjust to the prison setting as well as come to grips with the prospect of
surviving an extended period of confinement. At the novice stage of confinement, long-termers begin the process of socialization within the prison setting
while considering how to construct a life in prison. Confinement in a prison
setting for an extended period of time entails a form of secondary socialization
in which the long-termer has to learn to adapt to prison as a way of life. Old

Experience Inside and Consequences 31

definitions are shattered and he/she has to learn to adjust to the deprivations of
prison. He/she might do this by conforming or, on the other hand, by continual
rebellion.
This is often a painful process, entailing a mortification of and assault on the
self—resulting from invasion of privacy and social definition as a number.
These are the various forms of what a long-termer experiences as “disrespect,”
in which the symbolic meaning of events in the prison setting fail to corroborate his/her prior conception of self. The period of being a novice long-termer
generally lasts about three to five years.
A novice long-termer gradually becomes a “seasoned long-termer” as he or she
adjusts to the prison setting and begins to construct a prison lifestyle that will
sustain and guide him/her to the release consideration phase of the sentence.
Adjustment to the prison setting does not mean a mere acceptance of the fact
that one will be confined for an extended period of time and therefore must
become accustomed to such a condition; it entails more than a perception of
reality that the prison is home for an extended period of time.
To adjust is not to merely endure. True adjustment entails a struggle to establish a sustaining relationship between the long-termer and the prison setting.
A sustaining relationship is one in which the long-termer is able to make adjustments in behavior as well as make improvements to his or her environment. Both the personal adjustments as well as the improvements in the prison
setting are for the purpose of sustaining the wellbeing of the long-termer.

Appearance before the parole board for release consideration is a critical juncture
in the confinement of a seasoned long-termer. It marks not only the culmination of
years of rehabilitative efforts, but is a longed-for opportunity to be evaluated on the
merits of those efforts.
The need to construct a prison life derives from the fact that a seasoned longtermer will spend a major portion (if not all) of the minimum term of sentence
preparing for parole release consideration. For persons serving a long-term
sentence, parole is one of the most sought-after avenues of release from confinement. Parole release determinations are based upon consideration of such
factors as the seriousness of the crime, criminal history, program participation, disciplinary behavior, and risk and needs assessments. Of these primary
release factors, participation in rehabilitation programs and positive behaviors
are activities that fall within the discretion of the long-termer, and which command his/her utmost attention in planning for parole release.
A seasoned long-termer constructs a prison lifestyle by setting goals and adapting behaviors that will sustain and guide him/her to release from confinement.
These goals and behaviors are rehabilitative in nature and are designed to indicate positive change in both cognitive thinking and social behavior. It should

32 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

be noted that the minimum term of a long-term sentence is
the statutorily designated period of time (the rehabilitative
phase) within which the long-termer must indicate reversal
of the propensity to commit the crime(s) for which he/she
was sentenced.
It is at the rehabilitation phase that seasoned long-termers
must make a concerted effort through program participation and positive behaviors to manifest their rehabilitation.
Program participation and positive behaviors are rehabilitative in nature in that they both indicate constructive
personal change. There is little or nothing long-termers
can do to mitigate the seriousness of their crime or criminal history. As primary factors in making parole release decisions by the board of parole, both the
seriousness of the crime and criminal history are static factors that cannot be
changed by reform deeds of the incarcerated individual and therefore are not
subject to rehabilitation.
Appearance before the parole board for release consideration is a critical
juncture in the confinement of a seasoned long-termer. It marks not only the
culmination of years of rehabilitative efforts, but is a longed-for opportunity to
be evaluated on the merits of those efforts. Although a determination of release
on parole is akin to hitting the jackpot, repeated denials of parole release have
the effect of changing the status of a seasoned long-termer. Both the number of
denials and the stated reasons for such denials can and do change the status of
a long-termer from a seasoned long-termer to a “standing long-termer.”
As is most often the case for a person serving a long-term sentence, the reasons
for denial of parole release by the parole board are invariably stated in the following language: “Your outstanding program accomplishments and exemplary
behavior are noted, however your release at this time would be incompatible
with the welfare of society”; or, “Release would so deprecate the seriousness
of your crime as to cause disrespect for the law”; or, “Given your criminal
history, there is a reasonable probability that you would not remain at
liberty without violating the law.”
In setting forth the reason for denial, the parole board never provides any
indication, either directly or indirectly, as to what act or actions the parole candidate should take to address either the failure, neglect, deficiency, or wrong
implicit in the stated reason. Without specific guidance and direction regarding
reform measures to address the reason for denial, the parole board’s decision
takes the form of a penalty rather than an evaluation, and the seasoned longtermer who receives the denial is at a standstill as to how to prepare for reconsideration at the next parole board appearance. It is at this point that a “seasoned long-termer” begins the process of becoming a “standing long-termer.”
From the perspective of a “standing long-termer,” the only responses to a
parole board denial perceived as a penalty are: (1) to redouble the standard

Experience Inside and Consequences 33

approaches to rehabilitation (program participation and positive behavior); (2)
to take legal action against the discretionary decision of the parole board; or (3)
to endure as a penalty the period of time to be served until the next scheduled
reappearance before the parole board, in the hope of receiving a just and fair
evaluation. However, the full predicament of a “standing long-termer” involves
more than withstanding numerous unjust parole board denials; it must be remembered that each parole denial involves the service of an extended period
of confinement—often in increments of two years: a factor that makes the aspect of aging a dominant issue.
A “standing long-termer” is at the stage of confinement when the prospect of
aging is an impending reality. He/she has served the minimum term of sen-

With each denial of parole the “standing long-termer” experiences the despair of
becoming a “geriatric long-termer,” destined for commitment to one of the nursing
home facilities euphemistically entitled “Units for the Cognitively Impaired,” located
within designated prisons, where terminal infirmity and death await.
tence (15 years or more) and must now weigh the existence of peers who are
known to have experienced as many as five or more parole denials, each separated by a period of two years. Considering the fact that a long-termer is classified as “elderly” at 55 years of age, and that an “elderly” long-termer is almost
destined to eventually be classified as “geriatric,” with the onset of medical and
mental infirmities associated with old age, the “standing long-termer” faces the
overwhelming problem of trying to slow the process of aging and at the same
time hasten the process of gaining release from confinement.
With each denial of parole, the “standing long-termer” experiences the despair of becoming a “geriatric long-termer,” destined for commitment to one of
the nursing home facilities euphemistically entitled “Units for the Cognitively
Impaired”—located within designated prisons, where terminal infirmity and
death await. ■

34 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

6

The High Fiscal Costs of
Incarcerating the Elderly
W.C. Bunting
Economist, American Civil Liberties Union
Over the past twenty-five years, the number of elderly people incarcerated in
state and federal corrections facilities has risen rapidly. The needs and demands placed upon state and federal corrections facilities by these elderly people differ markedly from those of younger people in prison. In particular, it is
significantly more costly for state and federal governments to incarcerate aging
or elderly people as compared to those who are non-elderly.
To manage these escalating fiscal costs, one sensible response is to allow elderly people in prison who do not pose a substantial safety risk to the public to apply for early release. Although releasing an elderly person (or, an “aging parolee”) will surely impose a fiscal cost upon state governments (e.g., by increasing
the costs of parole, housing, public assistance benefits (including healthcare),
and emergency-room visits), the conditional release of aging people has the
potential to raise tax revenue and, importantly, will save governments the high

...it is significantly more costly for state and federal governments to incarcerate aging
or elderly people as compared to those who are non-elderly. To manage these
escalating fiscal costs, one sensible response is to allow elderly people in prison who
do not pose a substantial safety risk to the public to apply for early release.
costs associated with incarcerating the aging prison population. In particular,
taking all of the relevant fiscal impacts into consideration, it has been calculated that the fiscal benefits of a policy designed to grant conditional release to a
defined subset of elderly incarcerated people far exceed the aforementioned
fiscal costs.106 This paper focuses on one aspect of this larger fiscal impact analysis, namely, the relatively high fiscal costs associated with the incarceration of
the elderly.
Since the 1980s, corrections expenditures as a percentage of total state expenditures have steadily risen nationwide, with fourteen states doubling public
spending on corrections and thirty states increasing public spending on corrections by at least half.107 According to a report by the Pew Center on the States,
106	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.
107	 Leachman, M., Chettiar, I., Geare, B. (2012). Improving Budget Analysis of State Criminal
Justice Reforms: A Strategy for Better Outcomes and Saving Money. Center On Budget & Policy
Priorities and ACLU, 4. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/improvingbudgetanalysis_20120110.pdf.

Experience Inside and Consequences 35

overall state spending on corrections increased from $11 billion in 1988 to
$52 billion in 2008. Add expenditures by the federal government on corrections, and the number climbs to $68 billion.108 A significant proportion of the
increased expenditure on corrections has been allocated to healthcare. The
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), for example, has estimated, as depicted in
Figure 1, that 12% of state prison operating expenditures comprises spending
on the medical needs of incarcerated people.109
In other words, Figure 1 shows that the second largest expenditure on state corrections’ operating budgets, behind salary and benefits, is spending on prison

Figure 1

healthcare.

State prison operating expenditures (2001)

As total expenditures have increased, so too has the average annual incarceration cost per person. Although
there is some amount of variance in the various estimates, $34,000 represents, in our view, a reasonable

65% Salaries & Benefits

estimate of the average annual incarceration cost per
person in 2013. The average annual incarceration cost
per aging or elderly person is even higher. Figure 2

15% Other

summarizes three estimates of the average annual incarceration cost per elderly individual (as calculated in
a longer report on the subject published by the ACLU),
denoted as: (1) Low Estimate, (2) Middle Estimate, and
(3) High Estimate.110

4%
Utilities

The “low estimate” naturally corresponds to the lowest
reasonable estimate of the true cost of incarcerating an
elderly person. In this case, annual incarceration costs
are roughly the same for both the average incarcerat-

4% Food
Services

ed person and the average elderly incarcerated person. The elderly individual, under this scenario, may
be relatively healthy and might not require additional

12% Medical
Care

staff or healthcare services. Next, employing a methodology specifically endorsed by the National Institute
of Corrections, the “middle estimate” sets the incarcer-

Source: Stephan, State Prison Expenditures, 2001 (2004).

ation cost of an elderly person at approximately two

108	 Pew Center on the States. (2009). One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, 11, (estimating that 90% of spending on corrections is devoted to incarceration as opposed to probation,
parole, or non-incarceration alternatives).
109	 Stephan, J. J. (2004). State Prison Expenditures, 2001. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, 4, 6 (tables 3, 5). Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf.
110	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.

36 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

times the incarceration cost of the average person.111 In our view, the “middle
estimate” represents the best estimate of the true fiscal cost of incarcerating
an elderly person. Finally, the “high estimate” equates the cost of an elderly
individual at roughly three times the cost of the average person; this estimate
represents the highest reasonable estimate of what it costs to incarcerate elderly people. These people may require additional staff and substantially higher
levels of care to meet their daily physical or medical needs.
As an initial matter, it should be noted that healthcare costs are relatively high here not because elderly
incarcerated people (or incarcerated people in gener-

Figure 2

al for that matter) enjoy superior levels of healthcare
as compared to the rest of society. In fact, most prison

Estimated annual incarceration cost

facilities offer only a constitutionally minimal level

per aging or elderly prisoner (2013)

of care, meaning that state prisons, under the Eighth
Amendment, cannot show “deliberate indifference to
serious medical needs” of prisoners.112 Prison facilities,
however, often fall short of even this minimal constitu-

120,000

tionally mandated floor, failing to provide a constitu-

102,000

tionally adequate level of medical care until compelled
to do so by court order.113
There are a number of reasons why a disproportionate

80,000

69,500

share of prison healthcare expenditures is devoted to
aging people. First, an elderly person in prison is relatively more likely to suffer from a variety of medical
conditions and require more contacts with healthcare

35,000

40,000

providers. According to a study by BJS, the percentage
of all people in state prisons who reported any type of
medical condition increased dramatically with age: approximately 48% of people aged 45 and older reported
some kind of medical ailment (excluding physical inju-

0
Low
estimate

ry), compared to only 24% of people aged 24 and young-

Middle
estimate

High
estimate

er.114 In Florida, for example, incarcerated people aged
50 or older accounted for a disproportionate share of
all medical contacts; specifically, while only 11% of the
total prison population was aged 50 or older, the subset

Source: ACLU State Fiscal Impact Analysis

of the prison population aged 50 or older constituted

111	 Anno, J. B., et al. (2004). Correctional Health Care: Addressing the Needs of Elderly, Chronically
Ill, and Terminally Ill Inmates. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 11.
Retrieved from http://static.nicic.gov/Library/018735.pdf.
112	 Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104 (1976).
113	 E.g., Riker v. Gibbons, No. 3:08-cv-00115-LRH-VPC, 2010 WL 4366012 (D. Nev. Oct. 28, 2010).
114	 Maruschak, L. M., Beck, A. (2001). Medical Problems of Inmates, 1997. U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 3 (table 2). Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/
mpi97.pdf.

Experience Inside and Consequences 37

38% of all medical contacts for hypertension; 44% for diabetes; 21% for asthma; and 36% for general medicine.115 Moreover, elderly incarcerated people
often require longer and more frequent hospitalizations, further contributing
to the elderly prison population’s disproportionate share of prison healthcare
expenditures.116
Second, the prison environment is, by design, an extremely poor place to house
and care for individuals as they grow old or become increasingly disabled or
ill. Most prison facilities were designed with younger persons in mind and, as
such, are often not suitably equipped to accommodate the varied needs and
requirements of the elderly prison population (e.g., prison facilities, at present,
generally do not have good systems in place to monitor chronic medical issues
or to implement sensible preventative measures). Often, correctional and
healthcare staff lack suitable medical training and technical expertise and
have not been properly prepared to treat age-related illnesses such as hearing
loss, vision problems, arthritis, hypertension, and dementia. Similarly, many
prison facilities have not been architecturally designed for people requiring
special services and devices such as walkers, wheelchairs, and hearing or
breathing aids.117
Third, as a direct result of poorly designed prison facilities and under-trained
medical staff, elderly people are often required to leave the prison grounds
to receive medical treatment. When this occurs, the government is required
to pay for the specialized treatment itself, any additional transportation costs
incurred, and the salary costs of the corrections officers (who must accompany the incarcerated person at all times while outside the prison facility, often
at overtime pay).118 Transporting people off-site for medical care is expensive
and can represent a sizeable proportion of the total healthcare budget for the
corrections department. North Carolina, for example, spent $18.1 million on
external healthcare costs for all people aged 50 or older—an amount that represented 72% of all healthcare expenditures made in connection with aging incarcerated people and accounted for 34% of the total external healthcare costs
incurred by the state prison system as a whole.119 Similarly, in Florida, although

115	 Florida Correctional Medical Authority. (2005). Report on Elderly and Aging Inmates in the Florida
Department of Corrections, 8.
116	 Aday, R. H. (2003). Aging Prisoners: Crisis in American Corrections. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers, 91.
117	 Anno, J. B., et al. (2004). Correctional Health Care: Addressing the Needs of Elderly, Chronically
Ill, and Terminally Ill Inmates. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 47.
Retrieved from http://static.nicic.gov/Library/018735.pdf.
118	 Gubler, T., Petersilia, J. (2006). Elderly Prisoners Are Literally Dying for Reform. California
Sentencing & Corrections Policy Series Stanford Criminal Justice Center Working Paper, 7. Retrieved
from https://www.law.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/child-page/266901/doc/slspublic/
TGubler_06.pdf.
119	 Price, C. (2007). Aging Inmate Population: 2007 Addendum Report. North Carolina Department of
Correction, Division of Prisons, 16.

38 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

individuals aged 50 or older comprise only 18% of the total
state prison population, the aging prison population accounted for approximately 34% of the total cost to the state
of all outsourced healthcare services.120
Taking the middle estimate as the true incarceration cost
of an elderly person, it can be shown that it costs state
taxpayers roughly $16 billion each year to incarcerate the
approximately 250,000 individuals aged 50 or older currently behind bars121—a relatively low-risk population.122
As a point of comparison, this amount exceeds the total
budget of the federal Department of Energy or what the
federal Department of Education spends each year to fund all state elementary
and secondary school improvements. Notably, an argument can be made that
this $16 billion estimate is low insofar as it is the case that not all state expenditures on healthcare are categorized as a healthcare expense line item in the
state budget. Overtime and regular pay for officers accompanying incarcerated people in connection with external healthcare treatments, for instance,

...[using a low estimate], it costs state taxpayers roughly $16 billion each year to
incarcerate the approximately 250,000 individuals aged 50 or older currently behind
bars—a relatively low-risk population. As a point of comparison, this amount exceeds
the total budget of the federal Department of Energy or what the federal Department
of Education spends each year to fund all state elementary and secondary school
improvements.
is unlikely to be included as a healthcare expense in the budget, but, rather,
is more likely to be reported as a salary expense. In addition, as detailed in a
report published by the Vera Institute, certain expenses are excluded from the
corrections budget altogether and are instead recorded under entirely different state spending categories. For example, in some states, such as New York, a
significant proportion of prison costs (such as underfunded contributions to retiree health care for corrections employees; current employee benefits such as
health insurance, pension contributions for corrections employees; and certain
capital costs) is located outside the corrections budget and is typically provided

120	 Florida Correctional Medical Authority. (2005). Report on Elderly and Aging Inmates in the Florida
Department of Corrections, 8.
121	 American Civil Liberties Union. (2012). At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the
Elderly, 28. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/americas-expense-mass-incarceration-elderly.
122	 E.g., Hirschi, T., Gottfredson, M. (1983). Age and the Explanation of Crime. American Journal of
Sociology, 89(3), 552.

Experience Inside and Consequences 39

by a “central administrative fund” or through a “central account.”123 Since the
middle estimate does not consider expenses allocated outside of the corrections
budget, our $16 billion estimate will tend to understate the true total fiscal cost
incurred in meeting the healthcare needs of the elderly prison population.
Notwithstanding these additional considerations, $16 billion per year is still far
too much to spend on the incarceration of the elderly. If the number of elderly
people in prison continues to rise steadily (as projected by numerous experts),
state governments may have difficulty funding other important public services,
such as K-12 education, Medicaid, and infrastructure improvement projects,
without increasing revenue (e.g., through increased state taxes) or cutting state
spending on other vital public programs and social services. As I noted at the
outset of this paper, moving forward, one possible response to the specter of future budgetary shortfalls, realized as a direct consequence of steadily increasing corrections expenditures, is to follow the lead of states such as Virginia and
Maryland and enact legislation allowing incarcerated individuals above a certain age threshold (typically ranging from 50 to 60) who have already served
a minimum number of years in prison (typically ranging from 5 to 15) to go
before a parole board and request to be released onto parole.124
While there is not space here to expand upon such recommended legislation in
greater detail, any conditional release program should incorporate, at a minimum, the following five best practices, which, if adopted together, would help
maximize the program’s overall effectiveness: (1) use a valid and reliable risk
assessment instrument to determine the average level of risk (i.e., the propensity to commit future crimes) when making the decision to release;125 (2) omit
certain eligibility restrictions placed on participation in the conditional release
program (e.g., completion of a high-school equivalency exam or other such
programming that might not be offered in all state prison facilities); (3) provide
a simple, easy-to-read form during the parole hearing, describing public assistance programs available upon release; (4) arrange for a provisional 30-day

123	 Vera Institute of Justice. (2012). The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers, 6, 8.
Retrieved from http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/price-of-prisons-updated-version-021914.pdf.
124	 Virginia law requires incarcerated people 65 or older to serve five years and those 60-64 to serve
ten years before applying for geriatric release. Va Code Ann. § 53.1-40.01 (2011). In Maryland, in
order to qualify for eligibility for release, incarcerated people must be over 65 and have served at
least 15 years of the sentence imposed. Md. Code Ann. Crim. Law § 14.101(g) (2012). See generally Chiu, T. (2010). It’s About Time: Aging Prisoners, Increasing Costs, and Geriatric Release. Vera
Institute of Justice, 6. Retrieved from http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Its-about-time-aging-prisoners-increasing-costs-and-geriatric-release.pdf.
125	 For more detail on the use of risk-assessment instruments in parole determination, see Austin,
J. (2004). The Proper and Improper Use of Risk Assessment in Corrections. Federal Sentencing
Reporter 16(3), 1. Retrieved from http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/pcras/proper%20
userand%20misuse%20of%20risk.pdf; Glazebrook, S. J. (2010). Risky Business: Predicting
Recidivism. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 17(1), 88 and 93.

40 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

supply of basic and essential medications at release; and (5) mandate that parole be strictly voluntary, with elderly people in prison retaining the individual
right to choose whether to apply for parole or early release. ■

Will Bunting is an economist at the American Civil Liberties Union. He received his
Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2012. Prior to this, he worked as an attorney
at a corporate law firm in New York City and as a law clerk to the Honorable Theodore
Katz in the Southern District of New York.

Experience Inside and Consequences 41

“For the person who must survive under it,
punishment after an extended period of time is no
longer punishment, it becomes something else.
And so does that person.”
Larry Luqmon White, founder of “Hope Lives for
Lifers” project
Age: 80 | Years in prison: 32

Reviewing
Barriers to
Release

7

A Perspective on Some Procedures
That Unfairly Delay Prisoner Release
Edward R. Hammock, Esq.
Former Chair, New York State Board of Parole
This paper discusses the barriers to the release of elders from prison that
arise from statute or regulation. More specifically, the three barriers to be
discussed are the New York State Parole Board, determinate sentencing, and
the disciplinary process of the New York State Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision.

The Parole Board
In recent months, a significant number of individuals and organizations126 have
made a strong effort to bring to the attention of the Governor, the legislature,
and the people of the state the propensity of the parole board to deny release to
many incarcerated people based primarily on the board’s determination that
the applicant’s crime is so serious as to warrant a denial of release.
Some of these determinations fly in the face of judicial sentencing and sentences that flow from plea agreements between the court, counsel for the defendant, and the prosecutor. When an individual has been convicted at trial or
pleads guilty to crimes set forth in their indictment, the court is in control of
the sentence to be imposed. Generally, the court has full knowledge of the facts
of the case and, therefore, can make both an intelligent and informed decision
regarding the sentence to be imposed. Most sentences flow from plea agreements crafted by prosecutors who are familiar with the facts and circumstances of the case, and the minimum period of an indeterminate sentence should
define the time of the individual’s release unless the board identifies a valid
reason for a delay in release.

What the Board uses more often than not to support its denial decisions is the
seriousness of the parole applicant’s offense...In far too many cases, the Board panel
offers no support for its predictive conclusions denying release on this basis.
Yet, what the board uses more often than not to support its denial decisions is
the seriousness of the parole applicant’s offense and the prediction that there
is a reasonable probability that, if released, the individual will not live and
remain at liberty without violating the law.127 In far too many cases, the board

126	 Including Prison Action Network, Prisoner’s Legal Services, Correctional Association of New York,
The Fortune Society, The Center for Sentencing Alternatives, and Hope Lives for Lifers.
127	 Caher, J. (2013, December 5). Advocates Recite Shortcomings of N.Y. Parole Review Process. New
York Law Journal.

44 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

panel offers no support for its predictive conclusions denying release on this
basis. A parole board decision based alone on the seriousness of the offense is
problematic, since the court and/or prosecutor already took this issue into account at sentencing.
In the types of cases referenced above, the parole board panels are effectively
re-sentencing people to additional time in prison based on no new or additional information. Indeed, this information was already taken into account by the
sentencing court or the prosecutor in arriving at the final plea offer. This has
been raised in the courts by incarcerated people requesting review of parole
board decisions. Until recently, judges have been reluctant to find that the
board re-sentences offenders. However, judges are increasingly finding that
the board does, in fact, re-sentence people by withholding parole, thereby increasing the individual’s prison stay for no stated valid reason.128
There has been much discussion recently regarding improving parole board
performance. Suggestions include denying those with law enforcement backgrounds eligibility to serve on the board; selecting board members who have
experience in the social sciences; and/or enacting the SAFE Parole Act (S01728/
A02930). I have advocated for the board to adopt standards for its decision-making that are rational, public and consistently adhered to by the board
members. I believe the board should be a collegial body that, through a reasoned process, reaches conclusions regarding the exercise of its statutory authority. The board developing and sharing its official standards of review with
all interested parties would put release for most parole eligible people in their
own hands. Judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and defendants would have
clear expectations regarding board processes. Consistent, rational decisions
made by the board would ultimately result in an increase in public confidence
in the board and its decisions.

Determinate Sentences
Over the past few decades, many jurisdictions have adopted determinate
sentencing schemes. California, for example, adopted a form of determinate
sentencing called “presumptive sentencing,” and the state retained its parole
boards in order to deal with people sentenced to life terms. Over the years, as
should have been anticipated, the sentence lengths became longer and longer.
In addition, California dramatically increased the number of persons sentenced
to life terms by enacting their now infamous “three strikes” law.129
In 1987, the federal sentencing system rejected the concept of a parole board
and shifted to a form of determinate sentencing through the use of sentencing
guidelines. Similar to presumptive sentencing, the guidelines have persisted
128	 Douglas v. NYSDCCS, 6213-13, Supreme Court, Columbia County, Justice Richard Mott, J. (2013);
Matter of Zarro v. NYSDCCS, 6073-13, Supreme Court, Columbia County, Justice Richard Mott, J.
(2013).
129	 Dansky, K. (2008). Understanding California Sentencing. University of San Francisco Law Review
43, 45.

Reviewing Barriers to Release 45

and their complexity has continuously grown over the years. In an effort to
control increasing sentence lengths, the federal system has provided federal
judges with the authority to sentence defendants outside the guidelines and to
accept recommendations from prosecutors for lesser sentences in deserving
cases.130
Currently, Governor Jerry Brown of California is taking significant steps to deal
with California’s enormous incarcerated population, which has overcrowded
all of their prison facilities.131 Recently, we have heard the former U.S. Attorney
General, Eric Holder, call for sentencing reform that will serve, if implemented,
to reduce the federal prison population.132
New York State moved to determinate sentencing through the Sentencing
Reform Act of 1995133 and the Sentencing Reform Act of 1998 (commonly referred to as “Jenna’s Law”).134 These laws require that certain people convicted
of violent crimes serve their “full” sentences except for a small amount of good

130	 Cappellino, A., Meringolo, J. (2014). The Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the Pursuit of Fair and
Just Sentences, Albany Law Review 77, 0771.
131	 St. John, P. (2014, February 10). Gov. Jerry Brown Wins Two More Years to Reduce Prison
Crowding. LA Times.
132	 United States Department of Justice. (2014). Attorney General Holder Urges Changes in Federal
Sentencing Guidelines to Reserve Harshest Penalties for Most Serious Drug Traffickers. Office of
Public Affairs.
133	 Lyons, D., Yee, A. (1995). Crime and Sentencing State Enactments 1995. State Legislative Report
20(16). Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/161460NCJRS.pdf.
134	 New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The Sentencing Reform
Act of 1998 – Jenna’s Law. Retrieved from https://www.parole.ny.gov/legislation-jl.html: “The
Sentencing Reform Act of 1998 - also known as Jenna’s Law - was passed by the Legislature and
signed into law by Governor George Pataki in August 1998. The law establishes determinate sentences for first-time violent felony offenders and requires their incarceration for longer periods by
mandating that they serve at least six-sevenths of their determinate sentences. By requiring that
first-time violent felony offenders receive determinate sentences, the law eliminates discretionary
release from prison. For class B, C and D violent felony offenses, the law increases the minimum sentence of imprisonment that a court can impose. To provide greater protection to the public, the law
also specifies that all violent felony offenders must serve a period of post-release supervision and
establishes guidelines for the administration of post-release supervision. The law also expands victim notification when persons convicted of violent felonies and other offenses are released, abscond
or escape from prison, or are released to the supervision of the Division of Parole. The law adds a
new section to the Penal Law (§70.45) that establishes the terms of post-release supervision and the
methods for calculating the terms of post-release supervision.
	 - A term of post-release supervision must be a part of every determinate sentence.
	 - Violations of post-release supervision may result in reincarceration for a fixed term between six 	
	 months and the unserved balance of the post-release supervision term, not to exceed five years.
Sentencing Structure for First-time Violent Felony Offenders
Offense Grade
Class B
Class C
Class D
Class E

Incarceration Period (in months?)
5 to 25
3 1/2 to 15
2 to 7
1 1/2 to 4

Supervision Period (in months?)
2 1/2 to 5
2 1/2 to 5
1 1/2 to 3
1 1/2 to 3

The period of post-release supervision for all second-time violent felony offenders is five years. The
conditions of post-release supervision are established by the Parole Board similar to the Board’s
authority over parolees and offenders on conditional release.”

46 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

time. Discretionary release through a parole board was abolished for these
people. The determinate sentences contrasted with the indeterminate sentences that allowed for the “early” release of individuals long before their sentences
had been fully served. Indeterminate sentences were continued for defendants
in non-violent cases and those convicted of the most serious offenses. Whereas
the state legislature was unwilling to trust the parole board to exercise its discretion appropriately in the case of violent felony offenders serving determinate sentences, it was more than willing to allow the board to continue to make
discretionary release decisions for those serving indeterminate sentences, i.e.,
those convicted of our most serious and violent crimes.

...what the Parole Board panels effectively do is re-sentence people to additional
time in prison based on no specific new or additional information and certainly based
on information that was already taken into account by the sentencing Court or the
prosecutor in arriving at the final plea offer.
Presently, in the State of New York, the prison population is dropping, paralleling a national trend of an overall decrease in the prison population. Governor
Cuomo has closed a number of prisons and, while this is a positive development, the impact on incarcerated women has been dramatic and unfortunate.
We have reduced the number of prisons accommodating women from five to
three. As a result, many women from the downstate areas of New York must
serve their time in Albion, which is a great distance from downstate New
York.135
We have yet to see the impact of determinate sentencing on the prison population in New York. However, by all accounts and my own professional observation, these sentences’ lengths have increased significantly.136,137 We need only
look at the sentences for Class B violent felony offenses to note how the prison
population will be affected in the future. Under the indeterminate sentencing,
the maximum prison time for a first-time defendant sentenced to the maximum term for a Class B violent felony was sixteen years and eight months.
Under determinate sentencing, the same person will spend more than twenty years in prison. And there is no way to mitigate the sentence. We see more
judges imposing longer and more consecutive determinate sentences that result in very long periods of incarceration. Those defendants will have to serve
85% of those sentences. It is clear to me that it will only be a matter of time be-

135	 Kaplan, T. (2011, June 30). Cuomo Administration Closing Seven Prisons, Two in New York City.
New York Times.
136	 Tonry, M. (1999). Reconsidering Indeterminate and Structured Sentencing. Sentencing &
Corrections: Issues for the 21st Century (No. 2). Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/
nij/175722.pdf.
137	 Petersilia, J. (2009). When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. Oxford University
Press.

Reviewing Barriers to Release 47

fore we see that the inability to mitigate lengthy determinate sentences, along
with current rates of parole, together produce an increase in the prison population. In many cases it will obviously appear that the continuation of some determinate sentences years after their imposition will result in holding people in
our prisons for months and years beyond a time when they could, and in some
cases should, have been released to the community.

Tier Three Superintendent’s Proceedings
Those more familiar with the efforts of our prisons to control incarcerated
people’s behavior are acquainted with the Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision’s disciplinary process and procedures. Today, there is
more attention being paid to these proceedings, especially those that result in
confinement to special housing units. Studies have shown the impact special
housing units have on the mental health of incarcerated people.138 I have seen
people ordered to spend as many as two years in special housing. There is no
doubt that the impact on many of these people is substantial and largely negative regarding their mental health and subsequent behavior.
The New York State prisoner disciplinary process has procedures in place ostensibly to ensure that incarcerated people receive fair treatment in the determination of guilt or innocence when charges are filed in Misbehavior Reports.
Offenses are graded, with Tier III offenses being the most serious and Tier I
offenses being the least serious. Unfortunately, the procedures in place also
allow for arbitrary decision-making in the assessment of the seriousness of the
infraction. No guidance is provided to accused individuals or other interested
parties to indicate the level at which an alleged infraction of a particular rule
will be charged. We are told that the decision to charge an infraction as a level
one, two, or three is left to the lieutenant or other Department official assigned
to review the filed Misbehavior Report.
Only Tier III Superintendent’s hearings can lead to a decision to order that an
incarcerated person serve a period of time in special housing. The assigned
hearing officer makes the initial determination of how long an individual must
serve in special housing for violation of an inmate rule. A review process is
also conducted by the Office of the Director of Inmate Discipline and Special
Housing. There are times when the review process yields a decision favorable
to the individual, but in our experience, that is quite rare. This review process

138	 Arrigo, B. A., Bullock, J. L. (2008). The Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement on Prisoners
in Supermax Units: Reviewing What We Know and Recommending What Should Change.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 52(6); Metzner, J. L.,
Fellner, J. (2010). Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons: A Challenge for Medical
Ethics. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 38(1); Center for Constitutional
Rights. Violations of the Convention Against Torture: Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons; Kamel
R., Kerness, B. (2003). The Prison Inside the Prison: Control Units, Supermax Prisons, and Devices
of Torture. Philadelphia, PA: American Friends Service Committee; Ridgeway, J. (2013 January).
Three Strikes, You’re Old. Mother Jones, 38(1); Ridgeway, J. (2012, October 1). The Other Death
Sentence: Aging and Dying in America’s Prisons. The Louisiana Weekly, 1-7.

48 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

is entitled to an automatic appeal. The Director permits
attorneys, the accused, or other interested parties to submit
supplemental materials that set forth evidence and arguments intended to persuade the reviewers that the decision
of the hearing officer should either be reversed or his recommended punishments reduced.
More often than not, when someone is found guilty as
the result of the disciplinary process, the hearing officer
recommends a period of good time loss. The loss of good
time for those sentenced to determinate terms results in
those individuals spending time in prison beyond their
anticipated and legally possible release date, i.e., the conditional release date.
That recommendation is subject to review by the institutional Time Allowance
Committee when the individual approaches his conditional release date. This is
true for all incarcerated people, i.e., those sentenced to determinate terms and
those sentenced to indeterminate terms. For those sentenced to indeterminate
terms, a recommendation for the loss of good time will be first reviewed by
the Time Allowance Committee. For these people who are about to meet with
the board of parole for consideration of release, regardless of whether it is an
initial or subsequent hearing, it is up to the board as to whether parole release should be denied based on the finding of the disciplinary process and the
recommendation for the loss of good time. Very often the disciplinary process
outcome affects parole decision-making in a negative way.
Four decades ago, the United States Supreme Court weighed in on prison
disciplinary matters and ruled that incarcerated people charged for serious
infractions are entitled to what is called “minimal due process.”139 The Court
spelled out the rules that must be followed by corrections agencies of disciplinary matters. As far as we know, on paper, the Department of Corrections
and Community Supervision follows the Court’s recommendations. However,
in practice, the provision of due process rights does not have the effect of
ensuring that the burden of proving an accused individual’s guilt rests with
the Department. A review of many cases makes it clear to us that the burden
of proof lies with the accused. Existing rules and regulations on the procedures accompanying disciplinary matters in our prisons do not require the
provision of counsel for people charged with infractions. Therefore, anyone
so charged must represent him/herself and he or she is responsible for developing and presenting a defense. Meanwhile, the hearing officers admit any
and all evidence offered to establish the guilt of the individual without serious
effort to ensure that that evidence is appropriate under the circumstances of
the case. For example, in one case, an inmate who was charged with violating
the rule prohibiting drug use claimed that the positive drug test was a result of
his ingestion of poppy seeds found in “everything” bagels. In order to counter
139	 Minimal due process in prison disciplinary matters was guaranteed to prison inmates by the
United States Supreme Court in the landmark case Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974).

Reviewing Barriers to Release 49

this defense, a Correction Officer from the package room who was called as
a witness testified that he never admits bagels, though he had no recollection
of the package submitted for review to the package room. The accused and
his wife had a long history of participation in Family Reunion visitation program with no violations. Their testimony was given no weight against that of
the Correction Officer, who had no recollection of the presence at the package
room of the individual’s wife.

In practice, the provision of due process rights [in NYS Department of Corrections
and Community Supervision disciplinary hearings] does not have the effect of
ensuring that the burden of proving an accused individual’s guilt rests with the
Department...The disciplinary process results in the denial of parole for many
defendants...it is a little-discussed “barrier to the release” of incarcerated people.
The disciplinary process results in the denial of parole for many defendants
and the denial of release for many of those sentenced to determinate sentences. It is a little-discussed “barrier to the release” of incarcerated people. The
process requires closer review and restructuring in order to meet the minimum standards of fundamental fairness.

Conclusion
The Parole Board, determinate sentencing, and the prisoner disciplinary procedures all contribute to the bloating of the prison population and the prevention
of the release of incarcerated individuals—in particular, the elderly—who are
deserving of release. ■

50 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

Reviewing Barriers to Release 51

“I speak in colleges and universities, churches, and
reentry advocacy programs to show that a woman
who committed a serious crime, but has changed,
does not need to remain in prison.”
Rosalie Cutting, participant in Account Manager/Job
Developer Program at the Fortune Society
Age: 70 | Years in prison: 26

Challenges to
Re-entry

8

The High Costs of Low Risk: The
Crisis of America’s Aging Prison
Population (Abridged)
Elizabeth Gaynes
President & CEO, the Osborne Association
NOTE: This article is based upon Ms. Gaynes’ symposium remarks and is significantly abridged from the Osborne Association’s white paper of the same name,
authored by Ms. Gaynes and Colin Bernatzky, to focus exclusively on reentry.
The full version is freely available at www.osborneny.org.
The United States has taken part in the most sustained and widespread imprisonment binge known throughout recorded human history, and the “graying”
of the prison population represents a national epidemic that has been decades
in the making. From 1995 to 2010, the US prison population aged 55 or older
nearly quadrupled. By 2030, this population is projected to account for onethird of all incarcerated people in the US, amounting to a staggering 4,400%
increase over a fifty-year span. Even as crime has drastically declined and the
US prison population has begun to shrink, the aging prison population continues to increase at a disproportionate rate: while the overall prison population
grew 42% from 1995-2010, the aging population increased by 282% and shows
no signs of slowing down.140 Today, there are an estimated 246,600 people aged
50 or older behind bars in the United States and over 9,500 aging incarcerated individuals in New York—comprising over 17% of the state’s total prison
population.141

The Reentry Experience
While the reentry experience for aging individuals poses similar challenges
to that of any other person returning home from prison, the elderly also face
greater rates of homelessness and un(der)employment, increased anxiety,
more fragmented community and family ties, chronic medical conditions, and

140	 Fellner, J., Vinck, P. (2012). Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States.
Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usprisons0112webwcover_0.pdf.
141	 Bernstein, D., Dworakowski, K. (2014). Under Custody Report: Profile of Under Custody Population
As of January 1, 2014. State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, 4.

54 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

increased mortality rates.142,143,144,145,146 Upon release, returning individuals may
not know how to reinstate their benefits and often experience a delay lasting
months before their coverage is finally renewed.147 This can exacerbate existing health conditions and increase the reliance on expensive and inefficient
emergency services as a substitute for primary care.148 The stigma of incarceration, coupled with limited work histories, can stifle employment prospects
for any returning individual, let alone the aging population—for which the
physical and mental health infirmities of old age turn even mundane activities of daily life into challenges. Furthermore, benefits such as Social Security
and Supplemental Security Income are suspended during incarceration, and
compensation for work in prison is staggeringly low. As a result, opportunities to build a financial cushion to help brace for the impact of reentry are all
but nonexistent. Many who have been in prison since their twenties or thirties
may not have paid into the Social Security system long enough to be eligible for
Social Security or Medicare upon release and, unbelievably, even those who
have Medicare are not able to receive care under the program as long as they
are under parole supervision.149 Social connectedness and community stability
pose considerable challenges as well—particularly in terms of securing longterm geriatric-appropriate housing. Aging individuals may no longer have a
family or community network to return home to and, even if they do, there
is no guarantee that families are equipped to handle the staggering medical
expenses and the high level of care required for chronic health conditions.150
Furthermore, aging individuals with criminal records are often discriminated
against or stigmatized by nursing homes and hospice care—leaving them with
few options.
142	 Binswanger, I. A., et al. (2007). Release from Prison—a High Risk of Death for Former Inmates. New
England Journal of Medicine, 356(2).
143	 Williams, B. A., et al. (2010). Coming Home: Health Status and Homelessness Risk of Older PreRelease Prisoners. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25(10).
144	 Crawley, E., Sparks, R. (2006). Is There Life after Imprisonment? How Elderly Men Talk About
Imprisonment and Release. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6(1).
145	 Stojkovic, S. (2007). Elderly Prisoners: A Growing and Forgotten Group within Correctional
Systems Vulnerable to Elder Abuse. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 19(3-4).
146	 Le Mesurier, N. (2011). Supporting Older People in Prison: Ideas for Practice. Age UK. Retrieved
from http://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/for-professionals/government-and-society/
older%20prisoners%20guide_pro.pdf?dtrk=true.
147	 Wakeman, S. E., McKinney, M. E., Rich, J. D. (2009). Filling the Gap: The Importance of Medicaid
Continuity for Former Inmates. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(7).
148	 Mallik-Kane, K., Visher, C. A. (2008). Health and Prisoner Reentry: How Physical, Mental, and
Substance Abuse Conditions Shape the Process of Reintegration. Urban Institute. Retrieved from
http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/411617-Health-and-Prisoner-Reentry.PDF.
149	 Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. CFR Title 42: Public Health. Section 411.4(b): Special conditions for services furnished to individuals in custody of penal authorities. Retrieved from http://
www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?rgn=div5;node=42:2.0.1.2.11#se42.2.411_14.
150	 Fellner, J., Vinck, P. (2012). Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States.
Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usprisons0112webwcover_0.pdf.

Challenges to Re-entry 55

Reentry
Large gaps in knowledge regarding the health and healthcare needs for this
population persist, and the existing evidence has not been effectively communicated to community healthcare providers.151 As such, there are very few
existing models of care for formerly incarcerated elderly individuals living
in the community. Beyond reentry-focused organizations like Osborne, some
of the most promising models and services specifically targeting returning
elders include San Francisco’s Senior Ex-Offender Program,152 Ohio’s Hocking
Correctional Facility one-stop pre-release program,153 the Transitions Clinic
at Montefiore Medical Center, and Connecticut’s Rocky Hill Nursing Home.154
While State and Federal programming do not expressly target or meet the wide
range of needs of this population, many formerly incarcerated aging men and
women can benefit from government programs. Aging New Yorkers returning
from prison may qualify for temporary cash assistance benefits such as Safety

The abundance of evidence is clear: aging people in prison experience greater
hardships and worse health outcomes while incarcerated, possess unique needs that
place enormous strain on correctional institutions, and comprise the most expensive
cohort to incarcerate while posing the least danger to public safety, culminating in a
financially unsustainable and morally precarious (if not wholly untenable) crisis that
can no longer be ignored.
Net Assistance (SNA). Additionally, changes to national healthcare through
the Affordable Care Act enable incarcerated people in participating states to
reestablish benefits such as Medicaid prior to release to help ensure a more
seamless transition home. Furthermore, medical services that cannot be delivered within prisons and require off-site travel are now covered by Medicaid in
much of the country. It will, however, take some time to fully realize how the
Affordable Care Act affects the criminal justice system.

The Work to Be Done
The issue of aging people in prison can be interpreted through several distinct
lenses: whether as a matter of economic urgency, a public health crisis, a violation of human rights, or a reflection of the critical shortcomings of the criminal
151	 Ahalt, C., et al. (2012). Confined to Ignorance: The Absence of Prisoner Information from
Nationally Representative Health Data Sets. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 27(2).
152	 Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services Inc. Senior Ex-Offender Program (SEOP).
Retrieved from http://bhpmss.org/senior-ex-offender-program/.
153	 Maschi, T., Viola, D., Sun, F. (2013). The High Cost of the International Aging Prisoner Crisis: WellBeing as the Common Denominator for Action. The Gerontologist, 53(4).
154	 Drury, D. (2013, March 20). Fight over Rocky Hill Nursing Home Hinging on Definition of ‘Prisoner’.
The Courant. Retrieved from http://articles.courant.com/2013-03-20/community/hc-rocky-hillnursing-home-letter-20130320-1_1_nursing-home-doyle-and-guerrera-medicaid-services.

56 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

justice system. Accordingly, any serious and sustainable
attempt to resolve this crisis will require a multifaceted
and cross-disciplinary approach that places the unique
perspectives of gerontology, corrections, health and philanthropy in conversation with each other. In order to provide
a launching point for further dialogue and action, we have
identified the following recommendations for reentry:
•• Ensure continuity of care through specialized discharge planning for the aging population, including
“community placement orientation;”155,156,157
•• Conduct further research to identify the needs and
concerns of the aging reentry population and the communities to which
they will return; and
•• Develop infrastructure within communities to receive and care for returning individuals.

Toward a New Paradigm of Punishment
The crisis inherent in the graying of the prison population serves as a microcosm for the broader issues at stake with the criminal justice system itself, as
it forces us to grapple with the ideological underpinnings of America’s punishment paradigm and highlights the urgency of repealing mandatory minimum,
truth-in-sentencing, and habitual offender laws. In light of mounting evidence
that our criminal justice system cannot continue unabated along its current
trajectory, we must force ourselves to reexamine the very purpose and intention of incarceration. The traditional criminal justice framework of the United
States holds that punishment serves four distinct functions: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. As has been described elsewhere in
reports from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, the perpetual incarceration
of aging, low-risk men and women does not justifiably fulfill these purposes—
nor does it serve the public good. Imprisonment is a method to be utilized in
the interests of protecting public safety and preventing crime in the absence of
viable alternatives to incarceration. But if the overarching purpose of the criminal justice system is indeed to protect public safety and prevent crime, what do
we as a society gain by keeping the elderly and infirm behind bars?
The abundance of evidence is clear: aging people in prison experience greater hardships and worse health outcomes while incarcerated, possess unique
needs that place enormous strain on correctional institutions, and comprise
the most expensive cohort to incarcerate while posing the least danger to public
155	 Williams, B., Abraldes, R. (2007). Growing Older: Challenges of Prison and Reentry for the Aging
Population. In Public Health Behind Bars, ed. Greifinger, R. NY: Springer.
156	 Aday, R. H. (2003). Aging Prisoners: Crisis in American Corrections. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
157	 Crawley, E., Sparks, R. (2006). Is There Life after Imprisonment? How Elderly Men Talk About
Imprisonment and Release. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6(1).

Challenges to Re-entry 57

safety, culminating in a financially unsustainable and morally precarious (if
not wholly untenable) crisis that can no longer be ignored. And with austerity-driven approaches to shrinking budgets en vogue and increasing public
discomfort with mass incarceration, we have reached an opportune moment to
begin to seriously address the epidemic of America’s graying prison population.
But where do we begin? Releasing people without a comprehensive plan for
their reentry will not resolve the systemic dysfunction that pervades the criminal justice system. This interconnected complexity of the aging prison population demands a strategic response that is versatile, multifaceted, and seeks to
address the issue at multiple points of intervention with involvement from all
stakeholders.
The fields of gerontology, philanthropy, health and corrections are uniquely positioned and qualified to collectively inform and implement short-term
and long-term solutions to this issue. Armed with critical interdisciplinary
knowledge and backed by investment from the philanthropic community, this
collaborative partnership possesses unparalleled opportunity to make lasting
contributions to the policies and best practices affecting the aging prison population. This joint stakeholder alliance is particularly well suited to enrich the
reentry process, first by identifying those factors that older, formerly incarcerated people require in order to thrive upon their release to the community and,
subsequently, by creating resources and pathways for their success. The result
will be tremendous cost savings, improved public health outcomes, economic
growth, a commitment to human rights, and the freedom for our elders to live
the remainder of their lives in their communities and to die with grace in the
presence of friends and family.
Ultimately, any systemic change around this issue is contingent upon our collective willingness to examine the structural determinants that have caused
so many to grow old behind bars, and our ability to deal with the impending
surge of aging prisoners in rational, direct and effective ways that free up costs
and lives—while recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of all people. ■

The Osborne Association offers opportunities for individuals who have been in conflict with the law to transform their lives through innovative, effective, and replicable
programs that serve the community by reducing crime and its human and economic
costs. We offer opportunities for reform and rehabilitation through public education,
advocacy, and alternatives to incarceration that respect the dignity of people and
honor their capacity to change. Osborne serves more than 8,000 currently and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families across several sites throughout the state,
including the Bronx, Brooklyn, Poughkeepsie, Rikers Island, and in 22 state correctional
facilities. www.osborneny.org | info@osborneny.org

58 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

9

Let Those Who Have Been There
Guide Reentry
Gloria Rubero
I hope the personal experiences I outline below can help us figure out how to
construct reentry services that work better for aging people who are released
from prison.
I served 26 years in New York prisons. I went into prison when I was 30, and
I came out when I was 56. In between, I earned a G.E.D. and a college degree.
I did maintenance work while in prison, and I actually saved the system a lot
of money by fixing everything that was broken. I also applied for parole five
times, and I was denied parole five times. Inside the facility, I had two major
strokes and one mini-stroke. Once, when I went to the board, I had had a stroke
and did not even remember my case; did not remember my crime; could hardly even speak; but they denied me. But I was determined to show that I could
survive; that I could walk and talk again—and I accomplished that.

I went into prison when I was 30, and I came out when I was 56. In between, I earned
a GED and a college degree. I…applied for parole five times, and I was denied parole
five times. Inside the facility, I had two major strokes and one mini-stroke. Once when
I went to the board, I had had a stroke and did not even remember my case, did not
remember my crime, could hardly even speak, but they denied me.
We long-termers change during those years in prison. And we have extra challenges when we are released.
For people who have children, it can be hard while they’re inside, and hard
when they get out. Some women are arrested while pregnant and subsequently give birth in prison, and their sentence might be 25 or 30 years in length. It
is heart breaking for parents to have children and be unable to be with them.
Then, when released from prison, it’s 30 years later. Their child is now 30 years
old. And while they may have had ties with their child while they were locked
up (and potentially, were even lucky enough to have trailer visits) it’s not the
same as being there for them on the outside. When they hurt, they throw anything at you. They hurt you. They say: “You weren’t there for me.” So, when you
are finally released, you try to repair that—and sometimes, you cannot.
When I got out nine years ago, it was like being thrown from the top of the
stairs to the bottom—I had nothing. Nothing was familiar. I did not come out
young. And it’s harder for a person who is older when they’re coming out,
because it’s even more difficult to retain new information and new skills (such
as computer skills). Younger people learn more quickly. So, for me, it was like

Challenges to Re-entry 59

evolving suddenly into a futuristic world compared to what we were dealing
with inside. On the inside, nothing is advanced at all. It’s more like living in
1950.
When I first got out, I couldn’t understand why people were walking down the
street talking to themselves. I had no idea they were having telephone conversations. I thought they were all crazy. And you will hear other people say this
about their first impressions of the world when they leave prison at an older
age, after serving a long sentence.
When I got out, I felt the world was small; there was no room for me. Things
moved so fast, and I couldn’t keep up. I felt like I did not belong. My family
couldn’t understand what I was feeling. They couldn’t understand why I felt so
paranoid; so pressured.
The world had moved beyond me, taking things from me while I had been in
prison. I had lost a lot. When I got out, I was hit with the fact that a lot of my
family members were old, too—and they were dying.
I lost my best friend—my co-defendant; my partner; my wife. We did most of
our time together, and we shared everything. She got out a month before I did.
She died five years after she was released. She had cancer, but nobody detected
it while she was in prison.
I needed a job because it’s hard to save money while in prison. The Department
of Corrections gave me $40 when I left. But it was hard to get a job. First, I was
old. Second, I was gay. Third, I had a criminal background. Even though I did
highly skilled maintenance and repair work (plumbing; electrical; all kinds of
jobs) while I was in prison, I did not get a certificate or a license. That meant
I couldn’t get a job outside, even though I was good at my job. When I did get
a job, I had to go through training programs that I did not really need—all because there had been no licensing inside. That also meant I got paid less than I
should have.
Because I had been incarcerated, I had to pay an entire year’s rent upfront in
order to get an apartment. The landlord would not rent to me without it. It took
me a year to work to get that money so I could get an apartment.
Many of these things could be avoided with better reentry systems in place,
and with fewer rules that make reentry so hard. Especially for older people,
reentry should begin long before a person actually walks out of prison.
First, the prison should assist released people with their paperwork. I left prison with nothing—no Medicaid; no connection to medical services; no connection to housing or a job. I was told I had to get my own medical records and pay
for them. All those things present you with reasons to fail.
When I got out, I did receive Medicaid for a brief period. However, when I
found a part-time job, Medicaid automatically ended. After six months in parttime work, I found a full-time position and remained there for six years. At

60 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

that particular job, there was a union, so I received health insurance. However,
I still had to pay co-payments when I received treatment. Therefore, along
with many other people I know who have insurance, I tried to avoid receiving treatment at hospital due to the high expense of the co-payment. If you’ve
spent much of your life in prison, you do not have savings to fall back on, so the
co-payment is far more difficult to meet.
Second, long-termers should be transferred to a low-security prison so they
can become accustomed to operating on the outside before they are released.
At a low-security prison, you can work in the community and get used to being
there. At the moment, that is extremely rare, perhaps even non-existent. The
rationale behind this is to prevent escape, since it is assumed that the individual will attempt to escape. But they will not— they want to be released from prison, not escape from prison. They only have a few years left of a long sentence;
why would they jeopardize that? When you’ve done so much prison time, why
would you attempt to escape right at the end and risk getting another seven or
more years? Yet, instead of being gradually integrated back into society, elderly
people are released directly from a maximum-security prison to the street.
It gets harder and harder as the years go by and your age advances. What is
sorely needed is a rehabilitation center or a work release center for older people so that, upon release, they can obtain appropriate help, support and treatment—and, most importantly, so they can receive support from others who
fully understand what they are going through. Other formerly incarcerated
people could serve as guides or buddies. This would provide the released person with someone who can both “show them the ropes” and understand the internal struggle they go through when adjusting to life outside prison—someone
who has been through it personally; someone who knows how it feels. They
need someone like that simply to take them places and walk them through the
steps: a true buddy system.
Unfortunately, the parole system has the reverse effect. While on parole, you
are not allowed to associate with others who have served sentences, or were
convicted of felonies. You are therefore unable to associate with the very people who could help you.
To reiterate, it must be recognized that younger people adapt faster upon
release from prison. Their minds are quicker and they are able to learn and
adapt to technology with far greater ease. For older people, however, we need
somebody to teach us—and to have patience as we learn. We need someone
who has been through the same experiences mentally and emotionally.
We are no harm to anyone except, perhaps, ourselves. We’ve paid our dues.
Regardless of what we did, we are different people now. Everyone deserves a
second chance, and that includes us aging long-termers. ■

Challenges to Re-entry 61

10

New York State Department of
Corrections and Community
Supervision (DOCCS) Discharge
Planning Barriers: Potential
Strategies
Lynn Cortella, RN BSN, CCHP, CCM
Formerly of NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
This paper presents a brief discussion of discharge planning for individuals
being released from prison to the community in the State of New York. I argue
that, while significant changes are underway in reentry programming and
practice on both the state and federal levels, a great deal more needs to be done
with regard to discharge planning in order to address the myriad needs of the
formerly incarcerated and to better facilitate successful reintegration.
Upon release to the community, formerly incarcerated individuals face a daunting array of challenges. They often encounter major difficulties in securing
housing, employment, and transportation, and they may be ineligible for public
benefits.158 Having been incarcerated frequently results in serious damage to
one’s personal relationships and community and social supports, and the stigma of a criminal record can negatively impact one’s social standing. Moreover,
discharge planning and the reentry process may be especially difficult for
formerly incarcerated individuals who are released with chronic or complex
medical and/or mental health issues.159
There is growing recognition that efforts must be made to improve reentry outcomes given the significant number of individuals who are being released from
federal and state correctional facilities (roughly 95% of all incarcerated men
and women are eventually released);160 the high rate at which many categories
of formerly incarcerated people return to custody for technical violations or
new offenses;161 and the fact that community safety is intrinsically related to
the successful reentry of the formerly incarcerated. Indeed, the introduction to

158	 Williams, B., Abraldes, R. (2007). Growing Older: Challenges of Prison and Reentry for the Aging
Population. In Public Health Behind Bars (56-72). New York: Springer.
159	 Gunnison, E., Helfgott, J. B. (2013). Offender Reentry: Beyond Crime and Punishment. Lynne
Rienner Publishers.
160	 Petersilia, J. (2003). When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. Oxford University
Press.
161	 Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2014, April 22). Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States
in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010, NCJ 244205. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/index.
cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4986.

62 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

the “TPC (Transition from Prison to Community) Case Management Handbook:
An Integrated Case Management Approach,” a publication of the National
Institute of Corrections (NIC), highlights several current national initiatives
related to improving reentry planning and outcomes—including the TPC model, the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative of the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, the President’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative, the Reentry Policy
Council and Justice Reinvestment efforts of the Council of State Governments,
and the National Governor’s Association Reentry Policy Academy.162 According
to the handbook, “these initiatives define a new strategic direction in the field
and provide important support to leadership.”163
Effective discharge planning requires the implementation of evidence-based
assessment at multiple points in time in order to gather generative information about the particular continuous needs of an incarcerated individual who
is subject to release from prison. An initial intake assessment with an incarcerated individual subject to release includes, in principal part, the collection of
facts such as medical and psychosocial conditions, family history, various other
support needs, and benefits and entitlements received prior to and to be received after incarceration. Although it is critical that such assessments be conducted prior to an individual’s reentry, for a variety of reasons (including complications related to geographical barriers and conflicts related to court dates
and parole hearings), in current practice, it is not always possible to complete
an assessment sufficiently early (three to six months prior to release date—to
allow time for connection to needed services) for every potential person on
parole. Furthermore, in some cases, late identification of an incarcerated person’s service needs may occur due to an unexpected early release. Accordingly,
implementing a more thorough and consistent assessment protocol constitutes an important potential improvement in discharge planning. Considering
the large number of individuals being released annually from New York State
correctional facilities, it is important that substantial discharge resources be
available.
Effective communication among correctional staff is also vital to discharge
planning and the wellbeing of incarcerated individuals. This is especially the
case for those with medical problems. The effective provision of healthcare
within state correctional facilities often requires numerous interactions among
many healthcare providers and staff. In order to best meet the particular needs
of each parolee, it is necessary to facilitate effective communication among
all parties relevant to successful reentry, including members of the healthcare
staff, mental health services, security, parole officers, and outside community
care providers. Greater levels of integration and communication among the
different parts of the system are likely to foster competent discharge planning
162	 Burke, P., Herman, P., Stoker, R., Giguere, R. (2010). TPC Case Management Handbook: An
Integrated Case Management Approach. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.
gov/Library/024393.pdf.
163	 Id. 1.

Challenges to Re-entry 63

and thereby improve formerly incarcerated individuals’ chances at successful
reentry.
A study by Evelyn Patterson, a sociologist at Vanderbilt University, regarding the relationship between mortality and the amount of time served in
prison provides some evidence of the consequences of inadequate discharge
planning.164
According to Patterson, a formerly incarcerated individual’s risk of mortality
spikes immediately after he or she is released from prison, but then declines
over time.165 A key problem related to this pattern is that people on parole often
find it very difficult to secure proper healthcare in the immediate months after
leaving the prison system. Moreover, while in many instances people on parole
with chronic illness are given a short-term supply of necessary medications
upon release, they are often released with no connection to community-based
health services for follow up and continuous care.166 Establishing a discharge
plan that appropriately addresses the medical needs of people on parole is thus
essential to providing appropriate care and resources for our large incarcerat-

We need to foster an environment of trust and engage in frank dialogue with
the community to allay fears or concerns people may have regarding formerly
incarcerated individuals who are reentering the community. We...encourage all
community members to view our patients in the same manner as other patients and
community-based care recipients.
ed population—especially as they age within the system. While there is no legislation requiring the provision of medical discharge planning for incarcerated
people, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Estelle v. Gamble did impose
the requirement that prison healthcare provide “timely access to care.”167 In
the years since Estelle, discharge planning has come to be seen as necessary to
such care.168
Several current initiatives attempt to address this piece of reentry planning.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
(DOCCS) has initiated programs designed to improve the healthcare component
of the reentry process. Discharge planning initiatives for parolees with HIV and
hepatitis C (HCV), for example, address important issues of post-release care for

164	 Patterson, E. J. (2013). The Dose–Response of Time Served in Prison on Mortality: New York State,
1989–2003. American Journal of Public Health 103(3) 523-528.
165	 Id.
166	 Id.
167	 Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976).
168	 Mellow, J., Greifinger, R. B. (2007). Successful Reentry: The Perspective of Private Correctional
Health Care Providers. The Journal of Urban Health, 84(1), 85–98.

64 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

this sub-population within the prison system.169 Specifically,
DOCCS works in conjunction with the New York State
Department of Health to provide HIV and HCV treatment
for the formerly incarcerated. This initiative, while limited
to these diagnoses, illustrates the importance of effectively coordinating patient care prior to release in order to
ensure access to and continuity and cost-effectiveness of
post-release care.
Second, DOCCS takes a proactive role with New York
State’s Compassionate Release Program, which provides
for release from prison for people suffering from debilitating medical conditions, including some that are not terminal.170 In particular,
DOCCS is aggressive in attempting to identify appropriate candidates for release under the program. Indeed, we do not simply wait for a letter or a phone
call to initiate a Compassionate Release request. We provide information and
education to relevant parties in New York State prison facilities regarding the
program, and encourage them to make appropriate referrals.
Third, DOCCS has begun initiating Medicaid applications for individuals prior
to release. In addition, in appropriate circumstances, we complete other entitlement applications for those subject to reentry, including, e.g., Social Security
Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income (SSDI/SSI). This is an
important consideration in the placement of our patients who require ongoing
medical follow-up and/or placement.
Recent DOCCS initiatives related to reentry revolve around “in-reach” as well
as outreach activities. We visit nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and
home healthcare organizations within the community to provide education
about our facilities, healthcare, and patient population. DOCCS also invites
these potential community partners to our correctional facilities to engage
them in further education and to build greater understanding of both our
system and the needs of our patient population. In addition, we provide follow-ups with the nursing homes and other facilities that assume care of our
patients. We believe that these partners and colleagues in the community must
know who we are, what our mission is, and how we can most effectively care
for our patients.
We need to foster an environment of trust and engage in frank dialogue with
the community to allay fears or concerns people may have regarding formerly
incarcerated individuals who are reentering the community. We are establishing excellent, ongoing relationships with numerous community collaborators
169	 New York State Department of Health and New York State Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision. Hepatitis C Guidelines Continuity Program Protocol. Retrieved from
http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/providers/corrections/hepcprogram.htm/.
170	 New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2014). Directive 4304,
04/08/2014. Retrieved from http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Directives/4304.pdf.

Challenges to Re-entry 65

in order to encourage all community members to view our patients in the
same manner as other patients and community-based care recipients. I am not
always met with understanding and openness when visiting community sites
and asking for consideration on behalf of DOCCS patients; however, direct engagement with community members is the best tool at our disposal for gaining
their confidence and attention to our needs. With ongoing education and community involvement on the part of DOCCS, we will be better able to meet the
needs of our aged and chronically ill patients as they reenter society, and we
will better serve the public by fostering the best possible outcomes for formerly
incarcerated men and women.

...greater emphasis must be placed on the role of discharge planning as preparation
for the moment of release and as a mechanism for connecting the formerly
incarcerated with appropriate services and support systems in their communities.
This is in the best interest not only of the state Departments of Corrections and
parolees, but of the general public as well.
While practically every state department of corrections across the country is
engaged in some practice that could be termed “discharge” or “release” planning, the intensity and extent of such plans appear to be quite varied. Moving
forward, in the State of New York and elsewhere, greater emphasis must be
placed on the role of discharge planning as preparation for the moment of
release and as a mechanism for connecting the formerly incarcerated with
appropriate services and support systems in their communities. This is in the
best interests not only of state departments of corrections and parolees, but the
general public as well. ■

66 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

11

Combating Employment
Discrimination to Reduce Barriers to
Reentry
Sandra Pullman
Office of the New York State Attorney General, Civil Rights Bureau
The United States is notorious for incarcerating a larger percentage of its population than any country in the world.171 At current rates, approximately 6.6%
of all persons born in this country in 2001 will serve time in prison during
their lifetimes.172 In addition to these striking figures for the total population,
there are stark racial disparities in incarceration rates, as African Americans
and Hispanics are arrested at a rate that is 2 to 3 times their proportion of the
general population.173 Overall, 1 in 17 white men are expected to serve time in
prison during their lifetime; this rate rises to 1 in 6 for Hispanic men and to 1 in
3 for African American men.174
Upon release from prison, there are continuing collateral consequences of a
criminal record, particularly in employment. Studies have found that 78% of
employers now utilize criminal background checks to screen over 80% of their
hires.175 Erecting barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated people
serves to frustrate the criminal justice goals of rehabilitation and reintegration
into society—and even diminish public safety—as job instability is associated
with higher crime and increased recidivism.176 Further, persistent racial inequities in hiring practices compound the challenges people of color face in securing employment after release from prison, as Black applicants with criminal
171	 Walmsley, R. (2013). World Prison Population List 1 (10th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/wppl_10.pdf.
172	 Bonczar, T. P. (2003). Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. Prevalence of
Imprisonment in the U.S. Population, 1974—2001, 1. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/
pub/pdf/piusp01.pdf.
173	 Id.
174	 Id.
175	 EmployeeScreenIQ. (2011). Trends in Employment Background Screening: 2011 Results 2.
Retrieved from http://www.employeescreen.com/ESIQ_Trends_2011.pdf.
176	 Morris, M.W., Sumner, M., Borja, J. (2008). A Higher Hurdle: Barriers to Employment for Formerly
Incarcerated Women. Berkeley Law, Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, 7. Retrieved
from http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=werc (noting
that, as unemployment increases, crime increases, and as wages go up, crime is reduced); see
also New York City Bar Association Task Force on Employment Opportunities for the Previously
Incarcerated. (2008). Legal Employers Taking the Lead: Enhancing Employment Opportunities for
the Previously Incarcerated, 35. Retrieved from http://www.nycbar.org/pdf/report/Task_Force_
Report08.pdf (“Providing secure employment with prospects for advancement to the formerly
incarcerated will reduce recidivism, reduce the costs of maintaining a huge prison population
(thereby lowering taxes or reducing the pressure to raise them), strengthen family ties, and enhance public safety—all of which are important social objectives”).

Challenges to Re-entry 67

records are hired at lower rates than whites with the same criminal history,
and Blacks without any criminal conviction are hired at rates similar to or even
lower than whites with convictions.177

...persistent racial inequities in hiring practices compound the challenges people of
color face in securing employment after release from prison, as black applicants with
criminal records are hired at lower rates than whites with the same criminal history...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has addressed this
problem by prosecuting employers who implement arbitrary criminal history
bans for disparate impact discrimination, that is: the use of a neutral employment practice that disproportionately affects racial minorities and cannot be
justified by business necessity.178 In 2013, for example, the EEOC filed a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging the use of criminal background checks
by Dollar General, on the basis that this practice was more likely to disqualify Black applicants and was unrelated to the requirements of the job.179 The
EEOC has also issued guidance to employers, recommending that they perform
individualized assessments of applicants’ criminal records in order to ensure
their hiring policies are narrowly tailored to their business needs.180 Under
the EEOC guidelines, when evaluating applicants’ criminal records, employers
should consider: (1) the underlying facts and circumstances of the offense; (2)
the number of convictions; (3) older age at the time of conviction or release; (4)
evidence that the individual performed the same type of work, post-conviction,
with no subsequent offenses; (5) the applicant’s prior work history; (6) evidence
of rehabilitation; (7) personal and employment references; and (8) coverage by
a government bonding program.181
While federal law only prohibits hiring policies that disqualify prospective
employees with criminal histories to the extent that they have an unjustified,
disparate impact on racial minorities, New York State law prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of criminal convictions—regardless of
the applicant’s race. New York Correction Law 23-A, which passed in 1976,182
requires an individualized assessment of all job applicants’ criminal records.
Under Article 23-A, an employer may not deny or terminate employment on the
177	 Pager, D. (2003). The Mark of a Criminal Record, American Journal of Sociology 108(5), 937—75.
178	 See generally Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. (1971), 424, 431.
179	 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2013). Press Release, EEOC Files Suit Against
Two Employers for Use of Criminal Background Checks. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/
eeoc/newsroom/release/6-11-13.cfm.
180	 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2012). Consideration of Arrest and
Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, EEOC
Enforcement Guide No. 915.002. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/arrest_conviction.cfm.
181	 Id.
182	 New York Correction Law. (1976). Article 23-A. Sections 750-755. Retrieved from https://www.
labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/wp/correction-law-article-23a.pdf.

68 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

basis of prior criminal convictions except when there is a direct relationship
between the criminal record and the job sought, or when the applicant poses
a threat to public safety or property.183 In making this determination, employers must consider: (1) public policies in the state of New York that pertain to
the licensure and employment of persons with prior convictions; (2) the duties
of the job sought; (3) what bearing the conviction has on the applicant’s ability
to perform those job duties; (4) the time since the conviction; (5) the age of the
person at the time of the conviction; (6) the seriousness of the offense; (7) any
evidence of rehabilitation and good conduct; and (8) legitimate public safety
concerns.184 Article 23-A applies to all governmental employers and all private
employers operating in New York State that employ ten or more individuals.185
The Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office (OAG)
has investigated and prosecuted numerous violations of Article 23-A in a variety of different contexts. In its 2008 investigation of Radio Shack, for example,
the OAG found that Radio Shack used job kiosks and an online application
that automatically rejected applicants who indicated that they had been
convicted of a felony in the last seven years. The investigation revealed that
RadioShack disqualified thousands of applicants for positions in New York
without considering the factors required by state law and, furthermore, withdrew over 100 conditional offers of employment on the basis of sealed convictions, violations and infractions, and dispositions that were not convictions—
all of this in violation of state law.186 In 2009, the OAG investigated Aramark,
one of the largest food service providers in the country, which advertised in
job postings, at job fairs, and to referral agencies that applicants would not be
hired if they had any criminal history within the last seven years. The investigation revealed that Aramark also evaluated conditional employees’ criminal
histories without considering the required statutory factors.187 Next, in 2010,
the OAG investigated ABM, one of the largest facilities services contractors in
the United States, which was conducting criminal background checks of applicants and using a matrix to determine their eligibility, without considering the
age of the applicant at the time of the offense. ABM also considered offenses
that were not crimes, such as traffic infractions, and charges that had been dismissed, which employers may not inquire about or consider pursuant to state
law. The OAG subsequently investigated Choicepoint, the consumer-reporting agency that had worked with ABM to create the unlawful matrix and had
provided criminal background information that cannot lawfully be reported
183	 Id. Section 752.
184	 Id. Section 753(1).
185	 Id. Section 751.
186	 Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York: Civil Rights Bureau. (2009). In the Matter
of the Investigation of Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York, of Radioshack
Corporation, AOD No. 09-148, para 6.
187	 Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York: Civil Rights Bureau. (2009). In the Matter
of the Investigation of Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York, of Aramark
Corporation, AOD No. 09-164, para 1.

Challenges to Re-entry 69

in New York State. The office ultimately expanded this enforcement work with
companies that provide criminal background reports to employers, by obtaining letter agreements from all four of the nation’s largest consumer reporting agencies that prohibit them from automatically rejecting applicants with
criminal histories on behalf of employers. Moreover, local governments have
failed to fulfill their obligations under state law. For example, the OAG entered
into an agreement with the City of Oswego, which ultimately agreed to revise
a local law that disqualified anyone with a felony conviction from obtaining a
taxi license.188 Most recently, the OAG concluded its investigation of Bed Bath
and Beyond and found that it lacked policies, procedures, and training of its
hiring managers on the factors required to be considered in evaluating criminal records and, as a result, hiring managers were unlawfully refusing to hire
any individuals with felony convictions. As part of the settlement, Bed Bath and
Beyond agreed to remove its question about criminal convictions from its job
application nationwide.189
Although not required by federal law, some states and localities have required
employers to remove criminal record disclosure questions from employment
applications—an initiative sometimes referred to as “Ban the Box.” In Buffalo,
for example, since January 1, 2014, employers with 15 or more employees may
not question applicants about their criminal record prior to a first interview.
Employers may then ask questions during the interview, but the applicant has
a chance to provide additional information and will not automatically be excluded from consideration on the basis of a criminal conviction. While Buffalo
is the first city in New York that has banned the box for private employers, New
York City has done so for public employers since 2011.190 Throughout the country, 100 jurisdictions have enacted such legislation.191
As we consider how to reintegrate those who have served time and reduce
the collateral consequences of incarceration, continued enforcement of antidiscrimination laws, public education, and expansion of legal protections are
necessary steps to reduce arbitrary barriers to reentry. ■

188	 New York State Office of the Attorney General, Media Center, Press Release (2013).
A.G. Schneiderman Helps Secure Access To Employment Opportunities For Taxi
Driver Applicants In Oswego. Retrieved from http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/
ag-schneiderman-helps-secure-access-employment-opportunities-taxi-driver-applicants.
189	 New York State Office of the Attorney General, Media Center, Press Release (2013).
A.G. Schneiderman Announces Settlement With Major Retailer To End Ban On Hiring
Applicants With Criminal Convictions. Retrieved from http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/
ag-schneiderman-announces-settlement-major-retailer-end-ban-hiring-applicants-criminal.
190	 National Employment Law Project. (2014). Ban the Box: Major U.S. Cities and Counties Adopt
Fair Hiring Policies to Remove Unfair Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records.
Retrieved from http://www.nelp.org/content/uploads/2015/03/Bantheboxcurrent.pdf?nocdn=1.
191	 National Employment Law Project. (2015). Ban the Box: U.S. Cities, Counties and States Adopt Fair
Hiring Policies to Reduce Barriers to Employment of People with Conviction Records. Retrieved
from http://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-the-box-fair-chance-hiring-state-and-local-guide.

70 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

12

Co-Constructing Community: A
Conceptual Map for Reuniting Aging
People in Prison to Families and
Communities
Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW
Fordham University
Einstein said: “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking
we used when we created them.” These words of wisdom suggest that we must
think creatively about social problems, including the aging prison population
crisis, in order to effect positive change. Today we are at a crossroads: we can
either continue with current practice and policy, or we can define this crisis as
an opportunity to identify the root of the problem and develop innovative solutions. Communities must assess the costs and benefits of supporting the dismantling of the strict sentencing and parole release policies that were adopted
in the 1970’s and 1980’s—policies that have robbed many individuals, families,
and communities of healthy and productive elders and have prevented sick
and dying individuals with criminal conviction histories from receiving compassionate care.
This paper reports on a study of aging people released from prison. It challenges readers to think “outside the box” of the social structures and popular
conceptions of the prison system to visualize communities of care that really
do care. It conceptualizes prison release not as “community reintegration,” but
rather as the “reunification” of older adults with their families and communities. Although there are many definitions of community, the common definitions most relevant to the current discussion are: (1) “A group of people living
in the same location,” (2) “A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of
sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals,” and (3) “A unified body of individuals.”192 Collectively, these definitions suggest that a community is a place or
state with physical, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions.
One formerly incarcerated older person described the internal and external
experience of connecting with his community, which began by connecting with
himself:
I mean, at the end of the day it’s about doing what I can do to help myself.
It’s a process, it really is. To me it is a system within itself. Doing what I can
do for myself, then my family, then that immediate community that I may

192	 Community. (2014). In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved January 1, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community.

Challenges to Re-entry 71

be in, and then subsequently, ultimately, the greater community, because, I
mean, actually my mind says import, export.

Methods
This study was conducted from 2013 to 2014 and was a longitudinal mixed
methods study of thirty formerly incarcerated men and women aged 50 and
over. Participants reported varying levels of health, mental health, legal, and
social care concerns. Participants’ lengthiest individual prison sentences
ranged from five to twenty five years and time since release ranged from one
week to one year. During semi-structured interviews, participants shared their
views on prison, the community, and the factors that influenced their individual community reunification processes. The ninety-minute interviews were
digitally audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative data was
analyzed using constant comparative methods to identify emergent categories
and themes.

Findings
Thirty older men and women shared experiences of the factors that affected their individual processes of community reunification. The results of the
constant comparative analysis revealed two major themes: (1) Person in the
community-care context as both the root of the problem and the solution; and
(2) Facilitators and barriers to success (internal and external resources). These
themes are reviewed in that order below.

Person in the Community-Care Context
For many participants, the root of the problem and solution lies within the person in community-care context. One formerly incarcerated 61-year-old AfricanAmerican man shared this view:
I think the community has to do a lot to help the younger people staying
on the street and give them a reason, provide the resources to not even
think about going to jail. Once they get into the criminal justice system that
system is not designed to teach you to be a better person out there. So the
community has to do its job, not the prison system. It starts in the community. It starts at home, then the community, and, if all else fails, the criminal
justice system.

Lifetime Experiences with Care Providers
Participants also shared their lifetime experiences with informal and formal
care providers, which included family members and professionals. As illustrated in the quotes below, participants described qualities of caregivers that
were helpful, such as valuing human potential and conveying unconditional
love, dignity, respect and belief in the worthiness of others; being authentic,
empathic, compassionate, solution-focused, responsible, resourceful, and using
positive communication (e.g., active listening); and providing guidance and

72 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

care linkages (when needed). When these characteristics were absent, participants perceived their social interactions with care providers as less helpful and
in some cases neglectful and abusive. When these qualities were present, some
participants felt loved and cared for, which then had focusing and motivating
effects. One 59-year-old Latino participant described his experience with a police officer when he was a teenager:
My experiences with professionals have varied. As a teenager, when I first
got into the system, I met some very nice officers. We don’t even want to
arrest you, you’re soliciting. Call your parents. You know, give me your
number, let me call your mom and dad. If they come get you we’re not even
going to fingerprint you. Ma’s response was, I could care less, keep him.
There’s good and bad in all. There was one particular officer from my community that literally sat down and talked to me and listened to my problems. He’s like, you know, here’s what you can do. He was one of the first
people I think within the system that reached out and said, you know, we
can find a solution to this.
Another 51-year-old participant described a negative care experience with correctional staff during his most recent prison term:
The staff would be sending everybody a paper for birthday, to fill out to get
a new birth certificate or social security card if you need it. However, they
take these papers and they just sit in whoever’s desk. So, you know, it’s like
they, they don’t, they don’t take care of nothing in there. So once you got out,
though, you are expected to navigate your way around the city with no problems and get your documents, food stamps, medication, and see a doctor?

The Reunification Journey
Participants described the reunification journey as a physical, psychological,
emotional, social, and spiritual experience that begins while one is still in prison. Their individual experiences varied based on their perceptions of safety
and level of access to internal and external resources or supports to help them
prepare, survive, and thrive in their reunification processes. In the narrative
excerpts below, participants described factors involved in the processes of realizing and actualizing community reunification:
I prepared myself for my release date. So I wasn’t, wasn’t worried about
anything because I had idea already. Uh, my friend, my, my best friend held
all my clothes and property for me, so I really wasn’t worried about that.
Um, and even when I got home, like about a couple of days after I got home.
I was worried about a place to stay, but then I didn’t because my same best
friend let me live at his apartment while he lived in his house.

After Release From Prison
Once released from prison, participants continued to access internal and external resources/supports to navigate their journey. Participants who managed to

Challenges to Re-entry 73

Figure 1
Person in Community Environment: Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention Planning

Religion

Social
Networks

POWER

Protective
Services
Juvenile
Justice

Health

Unity Circle
Primary avenue of
informal and formal care
(self and others)

Safety

Disability

Person

Arts &
Leisure

Transport

Legal
Services

Family

Education

Care Way

Criminal
Justice

Secondary avenue of
formal care

Substance
Abuse
Work

Food
Clothing

Income
Housing

Social
Services

Aging
Services

Mental
Health

LIFE COURSE: HUMAN, FAMILY, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

thrive described internal resources that bolstered their resilience despite the
adverse conditions in their respective environments. Key internal resources
that participants reported utilizing included positive thinking, self-awareness,
self-compassion, self-forgiveness, self-discipline, altruism, autonomy/independence, personal agency, self-determination, self-regulation, adaptability, and
resourcefulness. Many described having used problem-solving strategies such
as proactive planning, especially when faced with challenges. One 55-year-old
African American man shared:
The only thing I’d say about prison is it can be a learning experience if you
use it for that. It’s negative, but it doesn’t have to stay negative, because a
lot of good, there’s a lot of positive that can come out of it.

External Resources and Social Supports
Participants also described external resources (i.e., social supports) as an
important asset that helped them navigate the reunification process. These
resources and supports included family, mental health and other services, education, and training—such as basic living skills.
My family, right now my family’s my biggest supporter because I can say
that and I can say that freely because there was a time when I couldn’t
even go, the furthest I could go was on the stoop you know because of, you
know, my behavior, you know, my behavior with the drugs and stuff like
that you know.

74 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

The most important thing for me was getting in contact with people who
have the resources for me to survive. Trainings, mental health care—I
learned computer skills. I went back to college. I did the footwork and
found people who can help me navigate living in my community. Basic
living skills that I didn’t have prior to my incarceration. And it took a long
time, about a year, to put all this in place.
Getting employment was my biggest challenge. Finding a job that not only
could help me pay my bills, but pay my way through life. But also have
room for me to grow in. I’ve had messenger jobs. I’ve had—worked as a
dishwasher, but all those jobs were nowhere jobs, because I had to learn
some skills to make myself more employable.

Challenges
Participants also described challenges and barriers to reunification and to
positive experiences of community. These challenges included living in unsafe housing and community settings, and lack of access to quality care. While
many participants were able to overcome these hurdles, their statements reflected that their communities were not well prepared to recognize needs and
provide basic care to formerly incarcerated senior citizens. Relevant excerpts
from some of the participants’ narratives about the challenges are as follows:
Well, I did have a lot of problems, um, as, as far as getting food, shelter,
medications and all that. I, I did have problems. Uh, we had started the,
the, the food stamp process while I was in prison. But even, this is months
before, and by the time I got out, I still had problems getting it because of,
um, information that I didn’t have, like ID and, um, at that time, I didn’t
have my social security card or nothing. So I had to go start from the beginning. I had to go get ID. I had to go get social security card. I had to go
get new birth certificate. And that’s sad because without ID you don’t exist.
It is like you’re not living, so it’s important to have the ID.

Discussion
These findings also suggest that the onus of care and accountability is on the
person and community care context in which community and service providers support conditions for safer and healthier living. High-ranking government
officials recognize the importance of empowering communities to address
crime and public safety and health disparities at the local level. In his 2014
State of the State Address, Governor Cuomo underscored grassroots community
activities in reentry support and services as a key strategy to reduce crime and
recidivism and make communities safer.193 He reminded: “We are part of one
community; one fabric.” New York is of significant concern because it has one
of the five largest prison populations in the United States (roughly 54,000), of
which 17% (9,188) are aged 50 and older. New York’s numbers are surpassed

193	 Governor Cuomo, A. M. (2014, January 9). 2014 State of the State Address.

Challenges to Re-entry 75

only by the federal prison system, which has the largest sentenced prison population (196,600), followed by Texas (157,900), California (134,200), and Florida
(101,900).194 Co-constructing community at the local level via community
members (including service providers) is best facilitated by engaging in interdisciplinary and cross-sector communication, cooperation, and collaboration,
such that its citizens are protected across their lifespans and may realize their
potential to become a part of caring communities.

Co-Constructing Communities for Holistic Well-Being and Justice
Across the Life Course
How do we co-construct our own roadmap to promote holistic well-being and
justice across the life course? The problems and solutions for providing quality
care are situated in the relational community context of which corrections and
prisons are an important part.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the community has a primary roadway, which is
“Unity Circle,” and its secondary roadway is “Care Way.” Unity Circle is populated by informal care networks (e.g., family, peers, and other social networks)
and foundational supports (e.g., food, housing, and transportation). In the
Unity Circle, the two primary sectors of care that all individuals are entitled
to are education and healthcare.195 The Unity Circle of community is the place
where most of the self-care and informal caregiving occurs and where individuals learn socially responsible behavior and accountability. Access to education
is a key factor in future employment prospects and obtaining a meaningful vocation. Access to healthcare serves as a preventive measure; clinical intervention is similarly critical. People only enter Care Way if they need professional
assistance or service, mental health or substance abuse treatment. The criminal justice system is positioned as the system of last resort. This model can be
used to conceptualize and plan prevention and intervention strategies that will
benefit community members, including elders released from prison.

Recommendations
This paper concludes with recommendations from elders released from prison
as to how community care can be improved to facilitate the successful reunification of older adults with their families and communities.

Foundational Supports
•• As far as food, you need your social service referrals unless you have a way
to support yourself.
•• Clothing—I think they could help you better. I think we mentioned one time
if you get picked up and it’s winter and you’re coming home and you’re
194	 Guerino, P., Harrison, P. M., Sabol, W. J. (2011). Prisoners in 2010. U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p10.pdf.
195	 Maschi T., et al. (2010). Trauma, World Assumptions, and Coping Resources Among Youthful
Offenders: Social Work, Mental Health, and Criminal Justice Implications. Child and Adolescent
Social Work Journal, 27(6).

76 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

released in the spring and summer at least give you,
nothing major, three changes of clothes that are I
think weather appropriate.
•• Housing—I think coming out, unless you already have
something that’s been established and you’ve been in
there short term or long term you definitely need housing help. It’s difficult out there for housing and employment. And everybody’s doing the background checks
now. So it’s difficult to get decent housing and a job.
You need the referrals.

Specialized Health and Mental Health Supports
•• Home care if they need it depending on both their physical and mental
health. Those are the things that need to be setup before you release the
person.
•• In old age you need more mental—definitely more outreach for the mental
health.
•• You’ve got to look at their health history, their past mental health history,
and they’re going to need—there’s Alzheimer’s on the rise with prisoners
in there. You have to work on that. You can’t just send them back out cold.
They especially need the support services.

Family Engagement and Support
•• You’ve got to reach out to their family members, help the family members
understand.
•• Other Sources of Social Support, Guidance, and Representation
•• The connections or what we need, positive connections out there.
•• We need guidance. I think a lack of guidance is what’s gotten us into this
mess in the first place. And to stay out, the attitude, society needs to change
the attitude. The workers need to change the attitude.
•• We definitely need more senior reps. It’s hard enough to deal with things.
And with senior issues it’s so much more complicated.

Transformational Community Justice
•• Look at the environment they’re going back to. Try to make changes. Let
them spend their time knowing they are not going to just get sent back to
the same situation.
•• The way our country goes about its corrections, its crime and punishment,
is different than let’s say Norway. First of all you would never do the kind
of time that we do in this country. You’re only going to be able to do only
to a certain point, and they consider that to me a lifetime, for example. The
access to the computers, your living circumstance in there, and the professionalism of those folks who work there is like night and day.

Challenges to Re-entry 77

13

Elders Behind Bars in the Broad
Scope of Reducing Incarceration
Soffiyah Elijah, Esq.
Executive Director, the Correctional Association of New York
Good afternoon, and thank you all for participating in this important symposium. I was going to say I am addressing the faithful few, but I am happy to
amend that to the faithful many. There have been a lot of people in this room all
day—and that’s important. It indicates the serious commitment our communities have to reversing the damage we’ve all sustained through mass incarceration and the over-use of prisons to address social problems in New York State,
and especially our concern for elders trapped in those prisons long after they
have ceased to pose a threat to public safety.
As director of an organization that is itself elderly (170 years and counting),
and that has been mandated by the state to monitor the prison system, I have
a bird’s eye view of the problems we have been discussing today. I would like
to mention how the crisis of aging in prison, about which we have heard many
details, fits into the larger picture, and to suggest a few essential things that I
think would help us to move forward. None of these involve easy, feel-good answers. We have to work hard and rely not on rhetoric but on our ability to face
and accept real challenges.

If we don’t change the correctional system from one based on permanent
punishment to one based on actually protecting public health and safety, we won’t
reduce incarceration. The continued imprisonment of a group of people who have
significantly aged out of crime, who pose little public safety risk and could in fact
contribute to our communities, expresses clearly the revenge principle. It tells us that
for some people—especially people of color—growth and change do not entitle you
to a second chance.
The bigger picture question is fairly straightforward. If we don’t change the
correctional system from one based on permanent punishment to one based
on actually protecting public health and safety, we won’t reduce incarceration.
The continued imprisonment of a group of people who have significantly aged
out of crime, who pose little public safety risk and could in fact contribute to
our communities, expresses clearly the revenge principle. It tells us that for
some people—especially people of color—growth and change do not entitle you
to a second chance. That has serious implications for our youth and the future
they can (or can’t) expect from us. It also means we will never reduce prison

78 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

populations, because when we get to the large sector (65% in New York State)196
of incarcerated people who committed violent crimes—some as many as 30 or
40 years ago, when they were in their teens and 20’s—we stop considering rehabilitation and release, and start spending money on building nursing homes
behind bars. What a waste.
Today’s panelists have detailed the way the inexorable growth of the aging
population in our prisons has contributed to the crisis of mass incarceration.
We have heard the statistics and the projections for future growth of this segment of the incarcerated population if we don’t intervene. We have discussed
the ways the crisis of aging reflects some fundamental problems that have
produced the mass incarceration binge: first and foremost, the addiction to
revenge and punishment and the denial of dignity to significant sectors of our
communities—particularly people of color and poor people. We have witnessed in the panels today how many good ideas and strategies can arise when
all stakeholders—the formerly incarcerated, former administrators, advocates,
researchers, academics and clergy—sit together.
That brings me to my first proposal for steps on the way to the future. We
should engage in roundtable discussions behind the prison walls. Let’s take all
the policy makers, family members, and clergy, and go behind the walls to have
regular monthly discussions about what the problems are and how to solve
them. The people doing time and the people running the prisons know what
the problems are, and they have some very smart ideas about how we can fix
them. But there’s a divide: an us and a them. And until we change the dialogue
so that it’s a we problem, we’re always going to come up with a failed solution.
We’re all trying to address the concerns. We all want public safety. Incarcerated
people don’t want to live in unsafe communities on either side of the walls.
And if they are released, they don’t want to recidivate either. They and their
family members want them to be successful. So everyone wants a reduction of
recidivism, but we need all the voices to be heard together. Then we will come
up with some concrete solutions that will be long lasting and successful.
We need to begin considering how people can and have changed, and base our
decisions about who stays in prison and who gets out on the facts of their present—not just their pasts. We also have to support them when they do get out in
order to help reduce recidivism.
There are some bold things we can do to get there.
The first is, we have to get rid of the stigma attached to incarceration. This has
been discussed today, but I want to address it very directly. We have to get to
the point where when someone says: “I’ve spent time in prison,” nothing flashes through your head other than: “I want to be supportive,” because we have
a default response of judgment. If in the back of your mind you’re thinking:

196	 State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2012). Under Custody
Report: Profile of Incarcerated Offender Population Under Custody on January 1, 2012, ii and 16.

Challenges to Re-entry 79

“well, what did you do,” even though you don’t ask it, you are going to limit
that person’s options. If someone’s coming home from prison, the very first
thing we need to look at is: what are all the support systems we can help put
in place for them. We need to ask: “Has the community really been enriched to
provide all the services that they need?”
We have a very clear example in our country as to how this works for veterans.
We take young people (men and women) and we train them to be military ambassadors to go around the world and fight wars for our country, often committing atrocities against the people of other countries. Then we bring them back
to the United States and we have a Veteran’s Administration to provide them
with all manner of services. They receive preferential treatment with respect to
employment; they even receive preferential treatment with respect to boarding
airplanes. There is a conversation happening now about the need to expand
these services to provide more psychological support—and that is a clear and
urgent necessity. But let’s make a comparison. Military service is about 4 years.
For the people we’ve been discussing today, the aging people behind bars—
long-term incarcerated human beings—we put them in cages for 10 years, 20
years, and 30 years, and when they come out there’s no formerly incarcerated
people’s reentry administration to provide them with the same kind of services.
If we took the same mindset that creates support for military veterans and
provided that wealth of support services to people who were formerly incarcerated, we would go far toward getting rid of recidivism. We’d also change the
public discourse to prevent the default response to put people in cages in the
first place. Alternatives to incarceration have been shown time and time again
to be far more effective—giving us more “bang for our buck”—than putting
people in cages.
Here is something we could do right now inside the prisons in New York. Every
two years we should evaluate everyone who is incarcerated, and review their
classification. People are originally classified primarily on the basis of the
nature of the offense. So if someone is convicted of a violent offense, they are
automatically classified as maximum security. That classification pretty much
stays with them the whole time they are incarcerated. Any changes they go
through—and in our experience, many people undergo significant, inspiring
change—do not affect the initial classification.
There is another side to the issue of classification: it costs far more to hold
someone in a maximum security facility. First of all, there are more correctional officers required per prisoner. So the correctional officers’ union has a
vested interest in continuing to hold a person in maximum security, because
that keeps their jobs safe. But the reality is that if we reviewed classification, it
would help. Anyone who is involved in corrections, starting with superintendents, will tell you that the longer a person is in prison, the less danger they
present and the less of a problem they cause. People “grow out of” being difficult on both sides of the prison wall.

80 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

If we reduce prisoners’ classifications, they could move
from a maximum security prison, to minimum security, to
work release, and then home. And we would enable ourselves to guarantee more success stories, because it’s much
easier to transition from a minimum security prison or
work release program (where you have fewer restrictions
on liberty) to the street, than it is to make that transition
straight from a maximum security institution. We could
reduce recidivism, thus reducing our prison population
significantly. Simply by reclassifying people, by reevaluating classifications every couple of years, we could help
guarantee that they would not return to jail after they are
released.
In addressing these problems, it is important to garner additional support and
awareness by using economic analysis. The changes we have been discussing
are cost-effective ones. But our first and foremost goal must be to put people
before prisons. If we change the discourse such that we look at people as the
most valuable American resource, then we will not be so quick to put them in
cages. Appreciating the fact that people are our most valuable resource would
also allow us to combat the widespread objectification of our fellow humans.
The reason it is so easy for us to put people in cages is because we dehumanize
certain sections of the community. What we must do is rid society of racism
and be really honest about the fact that the reason we have this problem is because we feel comfortable locking up Black and brown people—and poor white
people. If we can face that fact and begin to dismantle the elements supporting
it, we will be taking steps in the right direction—and we won’t have to have
this conference again in a few years. ■

The Correctional Association of New York is a 170-year-old independent non-profit organization that advocates for a more humane and effective criminal justice system and
a more just and equitable society. In 1846, the CA was granted authority by the New
York State Legislature to inspect prisons and report its findings and recommendations
to the public. The only private organization in New York with unrestricted access to
prisons, the CA has remained steadfast in its commitment to inform the public debate
on criminal justice and to expose abusive practices, educate the public and policymakers about what goes on behind prison walls, and advocate for systemic, lasting and
progressive change.

Challenges to Re-entry 81

“This is a quote from the person in the image
on this page. It should be about one of the
themes of the symposium, and not necessarily
about his/her personal story.”
Donald Johnson, Age: 65
Time in prison: 18 yrs, Current: Social Worker

Appendix: A
Model Plan for
Elder Reentry

Appendix

Community Re-Integration Pilot
Case Management Model
Aging Reentry Task Force
Steering committee: New York City Department for the Aging • Center
for Justice at Columbia University • Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
• Osborne Association • Be the Evidence Project of Fordham University •
Florence V. Burden Foundation

Task Force Members and Organizations: Deputy Mayor for Health and Human
Services
• Fortune Society
• New York State Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision
• NYC Department of Correction
• NYC Department of
Probation • Office of the Public Advocate for the City of New York
• Community
Service Society of NY • Correctional Association of NY • Silberman Center of
Excellence in Aging and Diversity, Hunter College
• Montefiore Transitions Clinic
• Coming Home Program, Spencer Cox Center for Health • Elders Share the Arts
• Citizens Against Recidivism • HELP/PSI
(Brightpoint Health) • Jamaica Service
Program for Older Adults • Incarcerated Nation Campaign • Think Outside the
Cell
• New York Academy of Medicine • Bureau of Community Services, NYC
• Bureau of Active Aging, NYC • Prisoner Reentry Institute, John Jay College •
Carter Burden Center for the Aging • Council of Senior Centers and Services •
National Lawyer’s Guild, NYC • Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
•
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Bronx Defenders
• Formerly
Incarcerated Individuals • Family members of currently incarcerated elders
•
Individual service providers

This pilot Case Management model was designed for organizations to use to
help incarcerated people more seamlessly re-integrate back into the community after a lengthy prison term. Using the notes, survey data, and resources
shared by Task Force members in meetings over a period of seven months,
we built flexibility into the model’s parameters so that it could be adopted by
a range of organizations. Primarily, this flexibility acknowledges that some
organizations have access to incarcerated people while they are still in prison
(awaiting release/parole), while other organizations do not. We also refrained
from detailing every aspect of a program, as it’s believed this will evolve over
time—during the pilot phase.
In addition to the model, we want to acknowledge another outcome of the
Aging Reentry Task Force: working relationships between providers, government agencies and advocates from the aging services and prison re-entry
networks. We are hopeful that these connections and this work will move forward, long into the future.

84 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

Parameters for a Pilot Case Management Model
(Eligibility Criteria, Target Population and Scope)

In 2012, approximately 366 people aged 60 or older were released to New York
City from New York State prisons. The majority of those have served lengthy
prison terms. Some will need extensive assistance; some will require (or desire)
very little support. Taking into consideration these factors, we propose the following criteria:

Eligibility criteria for the Pilot Program:
Age: 60 and older at time of release.
Rationale: Ultimately, programs based on this model will set criteria beginning
at the age of 50. The pilot project sets the cut-off at 60 in order to remove as
many obstacles as possible, to mesh more easily with existing services in the
community. While eligibility varies by program (with few exceptions), aging
services program providers serve New Yorkers aged 60 and over making access
to aging services programs easier, thus increasing the likelihood of success—
particularly during the pilot phase.
Length of Prison Term: 10 years or more spent in prison.
Rationale: Risk for recidivism decreases.
Prison: The person should be released or paroled from an ‘upstate’ prison. For
the pilot, the organization should identify 4-5 prisons to work with so as to provide enough referrals but also allow for the ongoing management of systems/
relationships during this groundbreaking period.
Nature of Crime: The Task force recommends that there be no exclusionary criteria related to the nature of the crime. However, the type of crime should be
made known to the case manager as she/he may need to work within certain
rules/laws to secure services like supportive housing. Case managers will not
have discretion in accepting or rejecting clients.
Scope: With the eligibility criteria laid out above and the total population that
could potentially be served known, we estimate—given the intensity of the
model—that a NYC-focused program would serve anywhere from 20 or more
individuals per year. The numbers served per year will certainly increase once
information about this program spreads and referral to this program within
the prison system prior to a person’s release begins.

Case Management Model Standards
Many city and state funded programs set program standards to ensure a degree
of consistency among organizations operationalizing the model.
Caseload: We are recommending a caseload of 1:25-35. That is, one case manager for every 25-35 individuals being assisted over the course of a month. At

Appendix 85

first, case manager caseloads will likely be much lower, however as news of the
program spreads, caseloads are expected to increase.
•• [Recommendation to Support the Model: to fully prepare an individual
for seamless, successful re-integration into the community, we strongly
recommend that beginning at the age of 50, every incarcerated person
receive a health assessment and an annual reassessment or at the time of
a significant change in health status.]
To help with successful coordination of a complex network of
services for
this population, for those participants who are not
in health homes, each case
manager should be paired with and
assisted by a peer specialist/navigator
(Community Health
Worker/Navigator). This peer position could be funded by
Title
V or the Center for Health Equity. The model of case management for this
project is based on the system for reintegration of incarcerated people living
with HIV/AIDS. In that model, each case manager leads a team of 2-3 people
including a peer navigator. This model has been shown effective in providing
continuity of care as well as in preventing recidivism.197 The case management
team will liaise with a designee from NYS DOCCS.
Point of Contact: Ideally, the case manager will begin providing services and
assisting in re-integration up to one year prior to his/her release date in order
to secure documentation (birth certificates/ID), housing/living, Medicaid/health
insurance, and employment opportunities (if applicable). Of note, if the program does not have access to (or is not frequently in) the prison, working with
a person still in prison may prove challenging.
Referrals: Referrals to the pilot program may come from the prison, the family
or the individual him/herself. Because the model establishes a caseload standard, the program/case manager has discretion to accept a new referral prior
to the person having a confirmed release date (as it is not guaranteed she/he
will be released).
Variations on the model: Ideally, there will be a discharge planner in facility
(pre-release ‘specialist’) and community case manager (post release ‘specialist’). Or one case manager that provides pre-release and post-release planning.
Contact with the incarcerated person’s family members is also necessary before
and after release.

Approach to Providing Re-Integration Services
Much of the dialogue around key aspects of this model involved the values the
case manager and program should espouse and the approach the case manager
should use in working with the individual.

197	 Depending on how health homes and other Medicaid reform initiatives evolve and the likelihood
that participants may be part of such programs, this model will adjust to meet new program
standards.

86 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

•• [Recommendation to Support the Model: A strong relationship, with ongoing communication, between the DOCCS Health Services Unit/related
prison staff and the program will be key to a seamless referral process
and, ultimately, successful re-integration.]
This approach is outlined below.198
•• This is an intensive incubator program that brings the re-integrating
senior together with key stakeholders including family members, service
providers, mental health practitioners, career/employment counselors,
and housing representatives. 

•• The social services case manager will have strong linkages to employment services, mental health, and substance abuse providers. 

•• Wherever possible, the case manager should empower an individual to
connect/link to a service rather than the case manager securing a service.

•• There must be formal connection to the prison—prison must allow
communication between case manager and incarcerated individual and
assist in the facilitation of the process. 

•• Successful re-integration begins while the individual is still in prison: 

—— Assessment by in house staff prior to release or if the organization
has access to the prison it could be conducted by them (NYC based
organizations may not have access to upstate prisons).
—— Assessment: Bio-psycho-social, spiritual, legal, housing/environment,
health, mental health, and substance abuse.
—— Tele-benefit conferences prior to discharge (like Community OneStop centers do).
•• Case manager provides case assistance, supportive counseling (not therapy), information and referral (when appropriate), advocacy on non-legal issues like securing housing, warm transitions to service providers/
experts like legal aid, employment specialists, and mental health counseling. Once basic needs are stabilized, case manager assists the senior in
identifying opportunities for leadership, cultural, arts, and civic engagement. Multidisciplinary team conferences are held monthly to discuss
certain cases. (Team members: Employment/volunteer specialist, mental
health specialist, health specialist, and housing specialist). Case management is guided by prevention philosophy consistent with public health
models for justice and for prevention of recidivism. 

•• Wherever possible, services are provided by people that have first-hand
experience. 

•• One key aspect of the program is “Buddy” groups/support groups with a
goal of training a formerly incarcerated individual (preferably also an
elder) to facilitate future groups (peer supports); these groups are sup-

198	 Of note, some of the items listed in the “approach section” are echoed in the standards or in subsequent sections of this document.

Appendix 87

portive in nature, provider support, forum for problem solving, and skills
building. 

•• Volunteers (peer support) are encouraged in the program. 


Case Manager Skills, Knowledge and Attitude/Values 

Case managers are the lifeblood of the program; the primary mode of service
delivery. Task force members at the initial meeting and in the subsequently
held workgroups shared their thoughts on the skills needed to do this work;
the knowledge set that would be required; and the attitude the case manager
should have to be successful in this work. An overarching theme was that this
work requires a case manager who possesses both aging and criminal justice
knowledge sets, values, and skills. The ideal case manager should possess or
seek to obtain the following knowledge, skills and attitudes/values:
Knowledge:
•• Aging process; 

•• Aging services; 

•• Criminal justice system; 

•• Patterns and behaviors associated with people being released from
prison; 

•• Social welfare benefits (how to obtain SNAP, Social Security Card and
Birth certificate, Medicaid and/or Medicare); 

•• Substance abuse services/programs/system; 

•• Laws pertinent to and legal issues most commonly faced by formerly incarcerated individuals; 

•• Common health conditions in formerly incarcerated and general knowledge of those conditions; 

•• Health insurances/programs (Medicaid, health homes, health exchange,
and services for the uninsured); 

•• Housing options and limitations; supportive housing (including less familiar or newer options such as home sharing and assisted living); regulations that could prohibit access to housing options by formerly incarcerated people; 

•• Community based resources. 

Skills: 

•• Coordinate efforts - work with person, prison staff, and community based
providers; 

•• Assessment (multi-dimensional); 

•• Intervention; 

•• Advocacy on behalf of and with the individual; 

•• Counseling (supportive); 

•• Group facilitation/presentation/teaching; 

•• Motivational interviewing; 


88 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

•• Relational skills to build and maintain linkages to community based
providers; 

•• Care transitions. 

Attitude/Values:
•• Culturally competent; 

•• Free of ism’s; 

•• Advocate; 

•• Team player. 


Resource Directory 

Due to the emerging nature of this work and the merging of traditionally uncommunicative systems, a directory of services, supports, and standardized
information would be helpful to those piloting the model. Some organizations
have begun work on such a directory—so building on or further empowering
the development of existing directories may be an approach worth exploring.
The directory would primarily be for use by the case management program;
however, portions of the information housed in the directory could be shared
with incarcerated people via newsletters. Task force members thought the following resources should be included in a directory: 199
•• List of housing options (definitions of options and actual programs); 

•• List of health care providers (friendly to formerly incarcerated); 

•• Definitions of health insurance options and eligibility guidelines
(Medicaid, Medicaid LTC, Exchange, Medicare, Medicare SNPs, BHOs,
Health Homes, etc.);
•• List of educational/vocational opportunities (CUNY schools, vocational
programs that offer supportive environment for seniors and formerly
incarcerated); 

•• List of DFTA senior centers by geographic area (maps); 

•• Define workforce programs for older adults (including Title V and RSVP); 

•• List of legal aid providers/low cost and/or free legal services; 

•• List of all organizations that assist in re-entry or re-integration; 

•• Arts and cultural organizations and opportunities friendly to formerly
incarcerated individuals. 


Community Education 

In addition to the case management provided to individuals, there were strong
recommendations that community based providers receive training on working with older adults and formerly incarcerated individuals:

199	 While this paper was in process, a directory was produced, as was a discharge planning assessment tool. Information about both of these is available from members of the
steering committee. The assessment tool can be reviewed at https://docs.google.com/
document/d/16qD9NLT97Lh_SV7SxVlKSPFwVTbPDAEoczoeZXapX5g/edit?pli=1.

Appendix 89

•• Identify community districts that have the highest rate of returning older
adults from upstate prisons. 

•• Provide education and training to local aging services, health, and mental
health providers in those areas about working with formerly incarcerated individuals. 

•• If re-entry services exist in those community districts, provide training
and education to those programs on working with older adults. 


Conclusion 

We thank all participating task force members for their generous contributions
to the development of this pilot model. It is clear that we are at a beginning. We
are formalizing a program that is a long time coming, steeped in a history of
grass-roots commitment to re-entry and aging support services, and will be a
current and future need as incarcerated people age out of the system.
The Osborne Association is currently implementing a project based on the
Aging Reentry Task Force model, and other organizations are also designing
projects inspired by the Task Force model. ■

90 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

...aging people in prison experience
greater hardships and worse health
outcomes while incarcerated, possess
unique needs that place enormous
strain on correctional institutions, and
comprise the most expensive cohort
to incarcerate while posing the least
danger to public safety, culminating in
a financially unsustainable and morally
precarious (if not wholly untenable)
crisis that can no longer be ignored.
Elizabeth Gaynes
President & CEO, the Osborne Association

Appendix 91


Notes

92 Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety

[Many] long-termers convicted of
serious crimes, people who constitute
the bulk of the over-50 prison
population, have taken responsibility
for their crimes, transformed their
lives, and developed skills and abilities
they lacked before incarceration. They
could be released from prison with no
risk to public safety.
Mujahid Farid
Lead Organizer, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP

Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration
and Promoting Public Safety©
November 2015
A publication of the Center for Justice
at Columbia University
Design and layout by Paragini Amin
Symposium photos by Ana Singh; Photos of Aaron Talley (page XXII); Gloria
Rubero (page 22); Larry White (page 42); and Rosalie Cutting (page 52) by
Alexandra Martinez
An electronic copy of this report is available on the Center for Justice’s website
at http://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/aging-in-prison.

Appendix 93