CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A prison may not necessarily be well prepared to handle the needs of an aging population.
As people get older, they may not be able to walk as far, or stand as long or hear as well as they once did. Their dietary and medical needs can change.
In a recent report Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about the care and treatment of older prisoners. Jamie Fellner is with Human Rights Watch.
JAMIE FELLNER: "First of all, the architecture, the physical buildings of prisons aren't designed for older people. Many older people have trouble walking, they have trouble going up stairs, they may be in wheelchairs or be pulling portable oxygen. And prisons have many stairs, or they do not have wheelchair accessible bathrooms. Prisons in the United States tend to be overcrowded and people have upper and lower bunks. It is hard for an eighty-year-old to climb up to an upper bunk."
Ms. Fellner has talked to aging prisoners about their concerns.
JAMIE FELLNER: "Well, one of the concerns of many of the older prisoners I spoke to was that they would like to get home. They'd like to be able to die with their families if they have families. So that is a big concern."
FAITH LAPIDUS: The Access Board is a federal agency that works to support the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities. Starting in nineteen ninety-eight the agency helped bring new legal requirements for prisons. These included requirements like putting handrails along walls to assist people in walking, and making buildings easier to enter and exit.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25