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Elderly in Prison

A Black man with square-framed glasses and a thin, slightly graying beard, sits in a Florida prison wearing a blue uniform and looking down.
Inside Story March 16, 2023
The Rise of Life-Without-Parole Sentences
We explore sentences that imprison people for life without parole, and comedian Ali Siddiq unpacks his behind-bars beginning in comedy.
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People at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, in 2016.
Life Inside April 14, 2020
“Covid Breached the Wall and Killed A Man Yesterday”
Trying to stay alive in Sing Sing.
By Dino Caroselli, as told to
All 156 beds in Elm Hall, a minimum-security dormitory at the California Institution for Men, are full. Many of the men suffer from chronic health conditions like asthma, hepatitis and liver disease. Forty-five of them are 60 or older.
Coronavirus March 27, 2020
Photos Show Some Prison Beds Are Only Three Feet Apart
Despite coronavirus, crowding continues inside California’s system.
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Coronavirus March 19, 2020
This Chart Shows Why The Prison Population Is So Vulnerable to COVID-19
Those 55 and older are a growing share of the people in state prisons. They’re also the most at risk as coronavirus spreads.
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Aging inmates eat lunch in the dining hall at Devens federal prison in Massachusetts in 2015.
Quiz May 19, 2016
Are Older People Getting Harsher Sentences? Take Our Quiz to Find Out.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics takes a close look at our aging state prison population.
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A courtroom sketch depicts James “Whitey” Bulger, center, during a pretrial conference before U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, left rear, in a federal courtroom in Boston Monday, June 3, 2013. Bulger is flanked by his attorneys Henry Brennan, left, and J.W. Carney Jr., standing at right. Jury selection begins Tuesday for Bulger’s trial. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins)
Life Inside March 17, 2016
My Memories of Being in Prison with Whitey Bulger
Tales of the “pale, white-haired, geezer in a wheelchair.”
By Nate A. Lindell
Justice Lab August 24, 2015
Do You Age Faster in Prison?
Science tries to catch up with the problem of ‘accelerated aging.’
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VACAVILLE, CA - DECEMBER 16: (Editorial Use Only) George Whitfield (sitting), age 56, waits in line to receive his daily blood pressure at California State Prison, Solano, on December 16, 2013 in Vacaville, California. This is Whitfield’s fourth time in prison - his current sentence is six years. He was sentenced for possession of narcotics with intent to sell and an illegal firearm. Whitfield denies the charges, saying police searched his house without presenting a warrant and only found marijuana that he used personally and a firearm he kept in his home. His previous three sentences, dating back to 1989, were allegedly for possession of marijuana, which he says he has only used recreationally. According to Whitfield, he suffered a stroke in 2007, which now forces him to use a walker. He also suffers from high blood pressure and has recently experienced numbness in his left arm. While Whitfield believes the prison officials at Solano are “fair, they’re only doing their job,” he also laments, “they should have sent me to rehab...they’re not trying to save my life, they’re trying to ruin it.” He continued, “I believe in second chances, I would love to see [some of my fellow inmates] go home - they don’t belong in here. This is overkill....we’re still human.” As of June 2013, the state of California had 133,000 prisoners, of which approximately 15,000 were over the age of 55. According to a 2012 Human Rights Watch Report, “incarcerated men and women typically have physiological and mental health conditions that are associated with people at least a decade older in the community. The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country, with the number of inmates increasing 42 percent between 1995 and 2010, according to Human Rights Watch, and the number of prisoners 55-and-older skyrocketing by 282 percent. The increases are blamed on the ‘tough on crime’ and the ‘war on drugs’ policies enacted in the 1970s through the 1990s. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
News May 7, 2015
Older Prisoners, Higher Costs
A tough, new report says it’s time for federal prisons to release the elderly and infirm.
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News November 17, 2014
Obama’s Prison Crisis
Crowded cells, aging inmates, soaring costs.
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