The Growth of Older Inmate Populations: How Population Aging Explains Rising Age at Admission

Abstract

This finding stands in contrast to the notion that population aging has little explanatory power in describing the growth of prison populations and implies that older inmate groups are more sensitive to compositional changes in the general population. We argue that prediction-based modeling of prison growth should more seriously consider the impacts and consequences of demographic shifts among older prisoner populations.

Disability in prison activities of daily living and likelihood of depression and suicidal ideation in older prisoners

“…For reasons including population aging, more arrests in later age, and prisoners aging “in place” because of minimum sentencing laws, the number of inmates age ≥50 has grown 500% since 1990 (Carson, ; Luallen and Cutler, ). Whereas suicide is a leading cause of death among incarcerated persons of any age in the U.S., older prisoners have the highest suicide mortality rates of adults in the corrections system; average annual rates are approximately 22 per 100 000 in state prisons and 60 per 100 000 in local jails, respectively (Noonan, ).…”

Increased Risk of Suicide Attempts and Unintended Death Among Those Transitioning From Prison to Community in Later Life

“…With minimum sentencing laws, more arrests in later age, and population aging, the number of incarcerated persons aged 50 and older in the United States has increased exponentially. 1,2 As most inmates are eventually released (from prisons or jails) to the community, 3 the number of middle- and older-aged individuals re-entering the community after incarceration can also be expected to grow. Considering that persons aged 50 and older have the highest suicide rates 4 and that deaths by drug overdose, specifically opioid-related deaths, increased sixfold among those aged 55–64 between 1999 and 2011, 5 it may be especially important to characterize risk of suicide and drug overdose in those transitioning from prison to community in later life.…”

Neighborhood Prison Admission Rates and the Sunbelt: Variation in Imprisonment, Concentrated Disadvantage, and Their Relationship Across the United States

“…Since 2010, the NCRP has been reinvigorated to collect data from all 50 states, to validate the data with state-published reports and state analysts, and to scrutinize the standardization of prison data across the 50 states. This has allowed analysts to reliably create statistics on imprisonment, postrelease community supervision, and recidivism, and to preform valid evaluations for a large number of diverse criminal justice issues (Luallen & Cutler, 2017; Luallen, Gaes, & Cutler, 2019; Luallen & Kling, 2014; Rhodes et al, 2017; Rhodes et al, 2014).…”