Aging prison population concerns increasing
By LINDA L. HULLAS BABY Boomers get older those who are a part of Ohio's inmate population are causing a concern about their high cost of incarceration in the prison system.
As the number of geriatric jailbirds climb each year, a controversy is brewing over what to do with them.
Many legislatures think the answer might be to release these convicted criminals back into the public, however, families of the victims think this is just another way the judicial system is proving the victims are completely forgotten.
Prosecuting Attorney for Belmont County, Chris Berhalter doesn't believe releasing prisoners because of age is an option.
He said, "I am opposed to this idea. I believe it totally disregards what has happened to the victims and their families and it is demeaning to the other elderly in the community."
He explained, "It's demeaning because I agree that the elderly are the greatest generation because this is a generation who believes in personal responsibility." He added, "Therefore to allow someone not to be accountable for what harm they inflict on a victim in the community would be in direct opposition to this belief."
Berhalter also said, "To release someone solely on the fact that they are a certain age and not on whether they have been punished or might re-offend is to put the entire community at risk."
Ohio is one of only16 states to place aging inmates in a separate prison, where the cost of medical care averages about $1,500 more per inmate than in prisons with younger populations.
The Hocking Correctional Institution in southeast Ohio holds about 400 inmates, including killers, child molesters and drug dealers with the average age of the inmate being about 62.
According to the Ohio newspaper, The Toledo Blade, in all, about 4,500 of Ohio's 45,000 inmates are older than 50.
Taxpayers must pay for the healthcare of elderly inmates if these inmates were released in to the public arena they would be then covered by Social Security, again the taxpayers have to pay.
Some critics say that the elderly prisoners are too old to kill again, this is not a fact by the way, and cost too much to keep them behind bars, so they should be freed.
But those in the judicial system and victims' families say old age doesn't change the fact that their loved one is dead and the inmate was given a punishment.
Families ask why elderly prisoners should be in a nursing home getting visits from their family, when the victims family will never get visits.
Although lawmakers are trying to contain correctional costs many people feel it is wrong to make the taxpayers vulnerable once again by letting these inmates out.
Age, unless they are in a totally incapacitated state, doesn't insure that another crime won't be committed, especially by a career criminal who was convicted of crimes such as rape and murder.
Many citizens believe that when a man or woman is convicted of a heinous crime and sent to prison for life that's exactly what they should get and maybe the prison system shouldn't work from a budget.They say that prisoners are getting too many perks and too much sympathy and that's what's driving up the cost of a prison stay.
Old age alone is hardly enough of a factor to free many men, even if they've served a long time on life sentences, said Julia Bates, Lucas County Ohio prosecutor. She put away child rapists and murderers early in her career as an assistant prosecutor and feels that they should be held until their sentences end.
"The problem is that the people they killed don't get to come back 20 years later," Bates said. "You can still do bad stuff when you're old."
Hull can be reached at lhull@timesleaderonline.com.
