[…][T]he number of older and geriatric prisoners [is] growing. By the end of 2009, there were 11,000 prisoners over the age of 55. (Prisoners’ physiological age tends to be 10-15 years more their chronological age due to the stress of incarceration, so 55 counts as elderly.) This number is expected to triple to over 30,000 within the next decade or so (pdf), which will put extraordinary pressure on a state that is already being bankrupted in part by its overcrowded prisons.
…
Statistics consistently show thatpeople tend to “age out of crime” (pdf). Nationwide, the recidivism rate for inmates aged between 16 and 29 is over 50%; for inmates 55 and older, the rate drops to 2%, rendering the chance of an elderly inmate re-offending upon release almost negligible.
But still, they remain locked up. In 2008, for instance, 7,308 lifers were eligible for parole. Only 294 were approved by the parole board, and of those, 81 were denied by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more than 30 were sent back for review. In the end, fewer than 60 inmates were released.
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