Being a citizen of the United States, I believe everyone deserves freedom. I also believe in the justice system, that ultimately decides how long a person’s sentence will be per crime they have committed. Once inside, freedom remains outside of the prisons walls. When the argument of elderly prisoners who experience diseases, most likely caused by their old age, had the potential to be released from prison and cared for by their families; I was immediately intrigued by the proposal. Introduced in the editorial, “Why Keep the Old and Sick Behind Bars?” published in The New York Times. One of the main reasons behind their release is the expense of an elderly criminal’s care, an expense the tax payers must meet. Some statistics show that a …show more content…
These elderly criminals are very costly, presenting a major flaw in the argument of release for the average family. Elderly people are costly due to the medical attention required to properly care for them. If these elderly prisoners become sick to the point that prisons deem them a burden financially, prisons being government funded, they will be extremely costly to the average family. Most families will not be able to take care of their needs, both physically and financially, potentially causing financial hardship, anxiety, and strain. In the editorial from The New York Times, “Should Sick and Elderly Prisoners be Set Free?” the remark is made, “These prisoners could wind up homeless on the streets. Or they could apply for Medicaid, which will send them to a nursing home. All this at taxpayer expense.” Even if they do stay with their families, they will most likely draw their social security or Medicaid. Therefore, the main argument to free elderly prisoners cannot be to save tax payer money. As one may now see, tax payers are still paying for the care, due to government funding’s alternate forms of accessibility. Not to mention, the worry of our country regarding jobs and the unemployment rate, extra caregivers in these
All inmates become psychologically institutionalized or dehumanized, and over time lack socioeconomically sound. The cost of tax costs that are unjustified, by raising accodational price along with unethical policies for future generations. With the death penalty there were breached issues such as the death penalty, wrongful execution and botched executions, which makes up 3% (Science Daily, 2012) . The meaning behind botched execution was biased on face value, which became unfair and eliminated in certain states, and states its " an evitable part of our criminal justice system" (McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987). Medical health care for all just recently became available through ObamaCare and correctional facilities seem to correlate, the basis of needs to these participants. The breach of ethical behavior is these inmates are surrounded by health hazards of others bodily fluids in such tight quarters. The injuries are inflicted from inmate brawls or inflicted by correctional officers, that can lead to trips to the infirmary. From a utilitarian's perspective it seems to cause more financial issues that good for society. The inmates that are serving time
What does it mean to be an American? Being an American citizen comes with a lot of responsibilities and perks, this is the main reason why people have been immigrating to the United States. The United States is a very special country because citizens have freedom unlike in other countries where you are told what to do and if you don't follow or you speak out you are punished, sometimes even in cruel ways such as execution. Also there is no slavery legally allowed and the United States law enforcement and Judicial system is not as corrupt as some other countries such as Brazil or Mexico.
Similar to other legislative proposals, it would expand “compassionate release” of elderly persons incarcerated and would eliminate the use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders.
Prisoners should be required to pay co-payments for the medical services that they receive in prison. The purpose of incarceration is to rehabilitate offenders to become active and productive taxpayers in their community. In order to do so, they should be held to the same standards that average law abiding citizens are. The two articles noted that even if the inmate does not have the funds to pay for the co-payments, they will not be denied treatment. Prisoners are guaranteed the same basic rights as everyone else and that includes their right to autonomy; in which they can receive or deny treatment.
The idea of sympathetic release of ill and elderly prisoners is not new. In 1994, Professor Russell published consideration of medical parole and compassionate release programs of district and fifty states of Columbia. Only three
We have prisons all over the United States that are overpopulated and this can lead to many problems. While being incarcerated for a crime, all inmates have the right to proper health care. When a person who is in prison gets sick, they do not have the liberty to make an appointment with a doctor, go to the emergency room, or even run down to the local pharmacy to get some over the counter medications. Inmates are solely at the hands of medical
Although elderly inmates are receiving health care while they are institutionalized, they are not always receiving the proper health care that is needed. The overwhelming increase in the elderly prison population has caused challenges to health care administrators. According to Kuhlmann and Ruddel (2005), not only do elderly inmates have common illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, dementia or other diseases that one undergoes as they age, elderly inmates are also affected by transmissible diseases due to overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, or unprotected sex. Health officials also have a problem treating elderly patients who are at the top of the list for being attacked by other inmates. Even if an elderly inmate is healthy when processed into the prison system, the stressors contribute to the declines in physical functioning ensuing in amplified health care. Kuhlmann and Ruddel (2005), states the only way that elderly inmates can receive proper health care is if public health practitioners and jail administrators launch an improved long-term
The president is clearly ardent in his resolve to find a solution to this costly problem. While some benefits of prison reform, such as the reduction of taxes, can be easily expressed in numbers, others are less palpable. Barack Obama spoke of the crumbling up of families. “Around one million fathers are behind bars. One in nine African American kids has a parent in
According to a report from the Human Rights Watch in 2010 there was a large population of elder inmates and statistics showed the older inmates suffered with more infirmities than younger inmates. As a result it’s much more costly to take care of an older inmate than it is to take care of a younger inmate (“Dementia Behind Bars”, 2102). Statistics also showed that ten years ago the average cost per inmate to be about 5,500 and about 11,000 for inmates 55 to 59 and 40,000 for those inmates 80 and older (“Dementia Behind Bars”, 2102). It’s a serious issue that has to be
Over the last thirty years the number individuals held in the United States Prison system has been growing rapidly. Numerous studies have found that the prison population that is growing most rapidly is the elderly population. For the purposes of this paper, the term aging and elderly population will refer to those who are incarcerated and are over the age of 61. As the number of elderly inmates continues to increase the number of stressors put on both the correctional system and the individual. In general, the correctional system faces a significant amount of financial stress in attempting to care for aging inmates, where as the inmates themselves face more emotional and physical stressors of aging, chronic illnesses, and even dying in prison. This paper aims to examine the stressors faced by the system and the individuals, as well as alternative options to continuing the incarceration of aging and elderly individuals.
The issue with aging prison members is that our legal system spends a majority of the money on our older inmates than our younger members. The three-strike rule in the United States is a big factor on why we have such a high rate with older inmates in our prisons. We imprison older members for life after they have committed more than three felonies regardless of the crime. That leads to our legal system being stuck with a lot of aging inmates. Our legal system has to pay more money in order to accommodate our older inmates because they require more medical needs. The Criminal justice system is spending a significant amount of money on our elderly sick inmates even though they are unable to commit any more crimes, leading to more problems
There are many arguments for and against confining the sick and elderly adults in jail. Some of the arguments include but are not limited to the cost to house these inmates (elderly and sick), monies used to house these inmates could be used to fund other programs, where will these inmates go once they are released, the reduction of overcrowding in the prison system, may increase crime and the homeless population, etc. Should the elderly be released just because a large amount of money is spent just to house them or should those elderly inmates remain incarcerated because they did the crime and should have to do the crime?
[In an effort to reduce crime rates over the last two decades, there was a push to increase arrests, and length of incarceration of criminal offenders. Due to the increase in numbers of offenders incarcerated and the length of their sentences the prison has an increasing population of elderly offenders. In light of this situation, the need to provide medical care for this population has become increasingly more expensive than anyone anticipated. Therefore, there has been a great deal of attention to what is known as compassionate release. In order to evaluate the arguments for and against this legislation we will look at the arguments on both sides, what values underlie each position, how medical release fits into the discussion, and alternatives to the problem.
The prison system's overcrowding is making them more and more expensive to afford. Also, mandatory sentences have hindered the Judiciary's ability to sentence offenders with discretion; so many offenders are sent to prison automatically, without regard for mitigating circumstances. For some of these offenders, prison may not be the most appropriate remedy. The cost to house and feed the inmates is skyrocketing. As with the general public, the cost to provide medical treatment, especially to those elderly and special needs inmates, has increased substantially.
This essay is going to be talking about the rights, responsibilities, and duties people have as an American citizen. The first paragraph tells about the rights every American citizen has. The second paragraph talks about the responsibilities every citizen has. The third talks about the duties every citizen has. If American citizens didn't know this they could be arrested for not doing their duties. They could always get their citizenship taken away from them. Citizens need to know their rights, responsibilities, and duties are so that they know what to do and what not to do.