As mentioned in this prior post, the academic publisher of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, University of California Press, has responded to the impact of the coronavirus crisis by making all UC Press online journal content free to everyone through June 2020. I continue to be grateful to UC Press for this move, especially now that it allows me to flag this latest and timely FSR issue and some of the articles therein. This new issue was put together by guest editor Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, and here are a few paragraphs taken from her introduction to the issue which provides a partial overview:
The Creation of a Crisis by Jalila Jefferson-Bullock:
This Issue of FSR is dedicated to the critical matter of aging in prison. While COVID-19 media coverage currently highlights the plight of our most vulnerable prisoners, the graying of America’s prisons is nothing new. One of the most foreseeable, yet ironically ignored, consequences of the harsh sentencing laws of the 1980s and 1990s is the dramatic upsurge in prison population through the predictable process of human aging. Presently, elderly inmates comprise 19% of the total prison population, and that number continues to rise. The cost of medical care for elderly offenders is five times greater for prisons with the greatest elderly population than for those with the least amount of elderly inmates, due, in large part, to factors that naturally accompany growing older. Prisoners also experience accelerated aging and therefore require varied medications, special diets, social interventions, and individualized supervision much earlier than members of the general population of the same age. By their own admission, prisons are ill-equipped to manage the mammoth health care, social, and other costs associated with imprisoning the elderly. The costs of incarcerating aged offenders are quite unsustainable....
This Issue tackles the prison ‘‘silver tsunami’’ phenomenon rather creatively. Our contributors include established law and sociology scholars, practicing attorneys, veteran politicians, and returned citizens. Their voices herald personal narrations of the inhumanity of prion health care, the power of redemption after long years of confinement in a brutal prison system, the importance of committed, community partnerships in rebuilding retuned citizens’ lives, and deep, scholarly insight into the actual, harsh conditions that vulnerable, elderly inmates face. This Issue represents various, unique perspectives on the crisis of aging in prison and, overall, provides a glimpse into what life is like for the incarcerated elderly. Here, we read firsthand accounts of the inability of the prison system to safeguard its most vulnerable population. We also learn, through authentic accounts, that despite the injustice doled out to our imprisoned elderly, there is hope and the prospect of embracing a new, bright future.
Amendments to compassionate release policies and the passage of the First Step Act represented opportunities for the federal prison system to provide relief to elderly offenders suffering ill-reasoned, illogically lengthy terms of incarceration. Unfortunately, neither resulted in widespread releases. In the wake of COVID-19, policies authorized by the CARES Act offer an occasion to explore early release of elderly offenders afresh. This time, we must get it right.
Along with the introduction and relevant primary materials, this FSR issues includes these articles:
A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends: From Life Without Parole to the House of Life Initiative by The Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice
The Unusual Cruelty of Nursing Homes Behind Bars by Rachel E. López
The Personal Case For Releasing The Elderly A Real Second Chance by Thomas J. Farrell
The Special Perils of Being Old and Sick in Prison by William J. Jefferson
Emergency Parole Release for Older Parole-Eligible DOC Inmates by David I. Bruck
Let My People Go: A Call for the Swift Release of Elderly Federal Prisoners in the Wake of COVID-19 by Jalila Jefferson-Bullock
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