Criminal Justice 410
Strayer University
Plan To Improve Correctional Facilities
Professor Douglas Brinkley
Donna M. Davis
July 30, 2012

Prisons in America face many problems today. One such problem is the amount of elderly inmates. Elderly inmates represent the fastest growing segment of the federal and state prisons. The aging inmate population has created new challenges for the American corrections system. The population of aging and elderly prisoners in the United States prisons exploded over the past three decades, with nearly 125,000 inmates aged 55 or older now behind bars, according to a recent report published by the American Civil Liberties Union. This represents an increase of over 1,300 percent since the early 1980s. (Graying in Prison). Some contributing factors to the increase in elderly inmates are, get tough on crime reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes rules and truth in sentence laws established in recent decades are keeping more offenders in prison for longer periods of time. Inmates are living longer and this also contributes to prison overcrowding. (Elderly Prisoners, 2012). In passing some of these laws, such as the three strikes laws, the courts and the Criminal Justice System did not think about the aging inmates and the problems that go with it. As people age, generally they develop health problems and within the prison system, this is no different. Prisons aren’t geared to the needs and vulnerabilities of older people. In the prison environment, there are a number of unique physical tasks that must be performed everyday in order to retain independence. They’re not the same tasks that are called for in the community. (Elderly Prisoner, 2012). According to Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and director of the Project for Older