Number of Aging Prisoners is Soaring in the US

January 28, 2012 | By Kim Walker

The number of US sentenced state and federal prisoners age 65 or older grew at 94 times the rate of the overall prison population between 2007 and 2010. The number of sentenced prisoners age 55 or older grew at six times the rate of the overall prison population between 1995 and 2010 according to this report from Human Rights Watch.

Prison is difficult enough to adjust to, imagine being frail, with mobility, hearing, or vision impairments, ore suffering chronic, disabling, and terminal illnesses, or diminishing cognitive capacity.

Here’s a blog I wrote some time ago about the similar problem in Japan’s prisons.