Elderly Inmates: Risks And Advantages Of Cared For By Families Group (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Elderly Inmates INTRODUCTION Most elderly and terminally ill prisoners die while waiting for medical paroles that are recommended by prison doctors. An example is a sixty-year-old prisoner called Bob who is terminally ill with lung cancer, and his family is requesting for medical parole. The terminally ill prisoners should be released to be cared for by their families. The U.S Sentencing Commission reported that out of men aged sixty years old, only 6.8% were incarcerated again within eight years of their release CITATION Bar18 \l 1033 (Barton). I am for the opinion that laws should be put in place to ensure the release of prisoners who are terminally ill. DISCUSSION It is getting costly to hold elderly prisoners, and even the officials cannot do enough to care for this group of inmates, especially the sick ones. The prison officials may become overwhelmed because of the growing number of elderly prisoners who are terminally ill leading to inadequate care and treatment. Many prisons are run in a similar way to poorly managed nursing homes since the terminally ill prisoners cannot access the medical care they should be getting CITATION Coh15 \l 1033 (Cohen). Delays in treatment lead to worsening of conditions, and the patients may at times get admitted to hospitals outside prison. The costs increase and end up overburdening the correction’s budget. Most prisons have a physical layout that makes it difficult for this group of prisoners to cope or survive. They have to wait in lines to get medication and the terrain may be very rough and therefore demanding for their conditions. They may not face these challenges at home since they will receive the required attention and care from their families. Most people are concerned about the safety of the society claiming that recidivism would occur since some of these prisoners could be very dangerous people CITATION Ram10 \l 1033 (Ramshow). Others opposing the law believe that these prisoners committed crimes and they have to serve their ...