Prison Displacements and Life “After” Mass Incarceration for the Elderly

• In Event: Criminalization and Medicalization

Abstract

A lesser-known result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s prison downsizing order in Brown v. Plata (2011) was the state of California’s subsequent parole of some elderly prisoners. The “Elderly Parole Program” refers prisoners aged 60 or older who have been incarcerated for at least 25 years of their sentence to the Board of Parole to determine suitability for release. According to the Prison Law Office, 115 such prisoners have been released since 2014. While elderly parole may represent a “compassionate” release program, it raises as-yet unexamined questions: Where do elderly prisoners go upon release? What housing options exist for those unable to live independently? Existing health research on compassionate release and geriatric healthcare in prisons and emerging sociological literature on stratification and aging raise more difficult questions: How does elderly release affect health outcomes? What are the psychosocial consequences of elderly parole after living for 25 years or more in carceral settings? How does the introduction of previously incarcerated residents shape life within geriatric facilities—what are the experiences of those paroled, those not previously incarcerated, and caregivers and managers?

Author

• Anjuli Catherine Verma, University of California, Irvine