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Missouri prison breaking in new geriatric wing

By Douglas A. Berman

This new piece, headlined "Aging inmates challenge Missouri prison system," concerning a new wing of a Missouri prison reports on what is becoming old problem for states dealing with old inmates.  Here are excerpts: A prison in Missouri's capital now has a geriatric wing as state officials confront an increasingly elderly inmate population.  The "enhanced care unit" opened Jan. 1 at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.... The 36-bed unit is designed as a miniature nursing home, a place where elderly convicts in wheelchairs, strapped to oxygen tanks or struggling with dementia can be segregated from the general prison population.   Prisoners older than 50 represented 6 percent of Missouri state inmates in 1998; two decades later, that figure increased to 15 percent...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 13, 2011 (boomark / email).