A three strikes problem: With more inmates serving into their golden years, the State of California may need to revisit the three strikes law because it may have unintended consequences
State of California warned on elderly inmate crisis
'Ticking time bomb' could cost $4 billion
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/26/BA107368.DTL
27 February 2003
Sacramento -- California's prison population will become increasingly geriatric during the next 20 years, adding billions of dollars in corrections costs unless the state changes the way it handles elderly inmates, state lawmakers were warned Tuesday. The dire predictions come four years after the Department of Corrections in an internal report concluded the same thing but then failed to form the task force that was recommended to come up with solutions.
Describing the state's aging prison population as a "ticking time bomb" that would lead to huge cost increases, Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and an expert on elderly prisoners, noted that as many as 20 percent of California inmates will be 55 or older in 20 years.
"You will be looking at a $4 billion budget just for older prisoners," Turley said during a state Senate hearing. The entire corrections budget is currently about $5.2 billion.
Changes in state sentencing practices, such as the "three strikes" law, mean California inmates spend much more time behind bars, Turley said. And with fewer chances at parole, many more inmates will grow old in prison.
That means a lot more expenses: Older inmates tend to cost as much as three times the amount to incarcerate as younger inmates, largely because of health care costs.
Turley, who runs a nationwide program called Project for Older Prisoners, noted that national costs for jailing elderly inmates are as much as $70,000 per person per year. California does not keep specific data on the cost of caring for older inmates.
Tuesday's hearing comes amid some growing support for changing state policy regarding elderly inmates, both to save money and for humanitarian reasons. Some lawmakers have questioned the need to keep 70- and 80-year-olds with severe health problems behind bars.
The Legislative Analyst's Office, which gives nonpartisan budget advice to lawmakers, recommended last week that the state release between 250 and 300 older inmates who committed nonviolent crimes. The inmates are highly unlikely to return to crime, and the move would save the cash-strapped state $9 million,
according to the analyst's office.
And state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, has introduced legislation that would authorize the Department of Corrections to create facilities designed to handle geriatric inmates.
The department listed that idea as a priority in a five-year plan published in 2000.
But Vasconcellos and Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead (Los Angeles County), who both led the hearing Tuesday, criticized the department for failing to carry through with an earlier plan to address aging prisoners. A lengthy 1999 Corrections Department report noted that the growth of older inmates would place a costly burden on the corrections budget.
The report recommended the state form a task force to explore 24 issues relating to elderly prisoners. But that task force has never been formed.
Robert Presley, secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, which oversees the Department of Corrections, said the department had asked the governor's office for approval to form the task force but had never heard back from Gov. Gray Davis. Presley is appointed by Davis.
Davis spokesman Byron Tucker said, however, that Davis' office never received the request.
"I think the department has largely taken an ostrich approach to the problem," Romero said. "That's got to change."
Tucker said Davis would consider any policy recommendations made by the Legislature regarding corrections, but the governor has indicated he does not favor releasing any inmates early.
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