Older Inmates Costing State, Experts Say

Budget-stressed California could save millions of dollars on annual prison costs by following the lead of other states and more creatively managing its rising number of elderly inmates, according to testimony at a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Although the overall prison population has leveled out, the number of geriatric convicts in California has nearly tripled in the last dozen years, largely because of longer sentences and a sharp decline in paroles.

Because geriatric inmates -- those over 55 -- need medical care more frequently than younger ones, they are two to three times more expensive to incarcerate, costing about $69,000 annually per convict, national figures show.

And although the elderly make up only about 4% of California’s prison population now, the state’s legislative analyst predicts that the figure will be 16% by 2025. Housing those inmates in that single year, one expert warned, will cost the state almost $4.2 billion -- roughly the equivalent of the entire corrections budget today.

“This is a ticking time bomb,” Jonathan Turley, founder of the national advocacy group Project for Older Prisoners, told the senators. “You can disarm it now by making some reforms, or you can wait for it to go off.”

Turley, whose group has advised several other states’ penal systems, said California’s problem lies in its failure to treat geriatric convicts differently from others it incarcerates.

Unlike many states, California mainstreams its elderly convicts, mixing them with young, still-violent felons. Turley argues that such an approach allows minor medical problems to go untreated and escalate; exposes elderly convicts to danger that puts them under stress and makes them more likely to get sick; and fails to seize on cost-saving opportunities that the graying population presents.

Specifically, he said the state could dramatically cut costs by managing aging prisoners according to their level of dangerousness. Those posing the greatest risk could be grouped in units staffed with experts in gerontological diseases, an approach that saves money by allowing for the buying and dispensing of special services in bulk.

Medium-risk inmates, Turley said, could be shifted into home detention and equipped with electronic monitoring bracelets, a level of security that costs about $8 per day per inmate -- far less than guards.

Inmates considered the least dangerous and most feeble could be screened for early release. To ensure their success, he said, the state would have to spend some money helping geriatrics make the transition into the community, finding them living arrangements and lining up Social Security or veterans benefits.

“Even so,” he said, “the savings would be significant.”

The legislative analyst’s office, which advises lawmakers on budget matters, has endorsed early release for a select 200 nonviolent geriatric inmates. Initially, that move would save just $9 million. But the savings would grow to an estimated $530 million annually in 20 years, when 12,000 prisoners would qualify.

Such approaches have become common in other states.

In 1999, the California Department of Corrections prepared a detailed plan for an “older offender program” to better manage aging prisoners while saving taxpayers money. But in the years since, nothing has been done, inaction that corrections officials Tuesday attributed to an apparent lack of interest by the governor’s office.

“So we simply ignored what we realized years ago, and we’re starting from scratch,” said an obviously frustrated state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the Senate oversight committee on prisons.

Robert Presley, secretary of the state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, conceded that improvements in how elderly inmates are managed are overdue. He said that he favors clustering old inmates at the men’s prison in San Luis Obispo -- which served that purpose in the 1950s and ‘60s -- but that money to start the specialized unit has been unavailable.

Tuesday’s hearing, a joint effort by three Senate panels, is proof that a budget crisis can create interest in policy options unthinkable just a year ago. For the last two decades, the Legislature has been in a solidly law-and-order mood, reflected in the passage of the three-strikes measure in 1994 and dozens of other bills lengthening sentences for certain crimes.

Although Tuesday’s hearing yielded no specific legislation, a few lawmakers seem ready to endorse housing options for geriatric convicts. Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) said he already has a bill (SB 549) to create nursing-home-type facilities for certain elderly inmates. Among those likely to cast a doubting eye on proposals to ease sentencing for geriatric convicts are victims rights advocates, who argue that age alone should not serve as a reason to escape punishment for a crime.