Okay, so this isn't verse, but it is an alarming revelation. Pennsylvania's 36,000 prisoners are getting progressively older; MUCH older! And, therefore, much more costly to keep imprisoned.
According to published figures provided by the Pennsylvania Department Of Punishment (and, therefore suspect for accuracy) 4.5% of the prison population is now 55 years-old or older. In the next 5 years the percentage is expected to double! By 2005 the Department of Corrections says there will be 4500 senior citizen prisoners! In reality, there will be many more.
The simple fact is that young prisoners tolerate the abuses or prison much better than older prisoners can. For that reason, the thousands who are older than 55, cost more than twice as much per capita to store and abuse as the younger men. Old prisoners get much sicker, much more often and they suffer from costly chronic problems. When they are victimized by the younger, aggressive persons and/or by the vicious guards, they tend to sustain greater and longer lasting injuries.
All of these things cost the taxpayers money. A senior citizen prisoner costs about $65,000 per year to keep imprisoned. It hardly seems like a good investment given the fact that older prisoners have little or no probability of committing another offense. The punishment extremists of the far political right want lots and lots of prisoners and they want to pay less and less for them.
One thing which pleases the punishment extremists is that Pennsylvania prisoners are dying at the rate of about 150 per year. Almost all are the old men who cost the system so much money and who have suffered the most. Governor Tom "Revenge" Ridge appears to be delighted with his handiwork. In the Ridge Reich the only good prisoner is a prisoner being guarded by highly-paid white rural Republicans, but a dead prisoner isn't bad, either.
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