New CAPPS report lays out roadmap to safely reduce Michigan’s prison population On June 11, CAPPS announced the release of a new report titled: 10,000 fewer Michigan prisoners: Strategies to reach the goal. This report examines the key factors that led to a striking increase in Michigan’s prison population over the last three decades, and recommends a [...]
What Caused the Crime Decline? Brennan Center for Justice | Dr. Oliver Roeder, Lauren-Brooke Eisen, and Julia Bowling Executive Summary For the past 40 years, the United States has been engaged in a vast, costly social experiment. It has incarcerated a higher percentage of its people, and for a longer period, than any other democracy. In [...]
As number of elderly prisoners grows, prison system creaks under burden of rising health care costs January 6, 2015 5:00AM ET | Al Jazeera by Steve Friess @stevefriess George Hall, 79, sits in his room on Monday, Dec. 1, 2014, at the Lakeland Men's Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan. Tim Galloway for Al Jazeera America COLDWATER, Mich. — [...]
Click here to read the full article. "Programs like this are needed as California’s older prison population is set to grow exponentially, particularly given many inmates’ lengthy sentences. About 5,400 are either on death row or facing life in prison without parole, and another 26,000 are sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. That’s [...]
Click here to read the full story. "These are just two stories from the front lines of the emerging crisis of America’s aging prison population. All across the United States, prison populations are graying, growing old and infirm behind bars. Between 1995 and 2010, the number of people in prison who are older than 55 [...]
New York Times Editorial, September 28, 2014 Click here to read the full editorial. Thanks largely to harsh and rigid sentencing laws, aging inmates — defined as starting anywhere from 50 to 65, depending on the state — make up the largest and fastest-growing segment of the American prison population. Between 1995 and 2010, the [...]
Another good article on the reports CAPPS released Feb. 12, 2014 (see In the News) Citizens group urges parole reforms to save Michigan $17M annually By Gary Heinlein | Detroit News | Feb. 12, 2014 Lansing— The state is wasting up to $17 million a year keeping 850 aging and sick life-sentenced inmates imprisoned rather than [...]
Read this compelling story of a nonviolent prisoner who was turned down for a commutation that would have allowed him to die at home. Thomas Whiteaker’s cancer is terminal and family members say he likely has fewer than two years to live, even with chemotherapy. “He should have the dignity to die with his family holding [...]
CAPPS is actively working to address the problem of aging prisoners, especially individuals serving life terms. Here is a long, but important ACLU report that highlights the problem of aging prisoners: please download the report here. From the introduction: “[Y]ou actually create victims by not letting [elderly prisoners] go and us[ing] your resources on rehabilitation for the [...]
Report | Aging prisoners | Corrections spending | Sentencing | Lifers | Medical costs | Parole | April 2010 By the Vera Institute As harsher policies have led to longer prison sentences, often with a limited possibility of parole, correctional facilities throughout the United States are home to a growing number of elderly adults. Because [...]