Older Prisoner Campaign

LSPC’s Older Prisoner Campaign is rooted in the vision that all people, no matter where they live, have a fundamental right to age with dignity and respect, including our most vulnerable seniors. Our work in this area aims to raise awareness, particularly within the elder justice movement, about the unique challenges and abuses faced daily by the more than 10,000 people growing older inside California’s notoriously troubled prison system.

LSPC’s work with older people in prison began in 2004 when we responded to the demands of women prisoners insisting that we begin to help their older sisters inside. We launched a community-based participatory research project with women prisoners and geriatric health experts to find out what it is like for these elders to “age in (the prison) place.” We published our findings and recommendations in a report entitled Dignity Denied: The Price of Imprisoning Older Women in California.  Though this investigation we learned the following:

• Prisons are not geared to needs and vulnerabilities of seniors. In addition to navigating many of the same challenges as elders in the “free world,” older prisoners age in a uniquely hazardous correctional environment. Seniors must contend with prison rules that, for example, require everyone to drop to the ground for alarms, climb onto top bunks, spend hours standing in pill/chow/canteen lines, work until almost totally disabled and live in constitutionally overcrowding housing units.
• Older prisoners cost three times as much to incarcerate as their younger counterparts – largely due to increased need for health services – yet consistently demonstrate among the lowest rates of recidivism. This means that California spends the most amount of money on those prisoners who pose the least threat to public safety, a curious funding priority given the state’s ongoing budget shortfalls.

In recognition of these findings, the two goals of LSPC’s Older Prisoner Campaign aim to (1) win the establishment of comprehensive and system-wide “geriatric correctional policies” within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and (2) follow in the footsteps of 15 other states and implement a “geriatric parole policy” for low-risk frail elders. To achieve these goals, we have engaged in the following activities over the past seven years:

Policy Advocacy – LSPC’s advocacy efforts have included sponsoring legislation directly related to our two policy goals, organizing legislative advocacy days, testifying at legislative hearings, and ongoing work with prison officials towards winning administrative policy changes.

Leadership Development – LSPC has helped support the organizing efforts of older incarcerated women at three different state prisons who, following the publication of our Dignity Denied report, formed prisoner-led groups. These groups – The Golden Girls, The Silver Belles, and The Silver Foxes – with support from LSPC have convinced Wardens at their respective prisons to make positive changes to better meet the unique needs of elders.

Alliance Building – LSPC believes that winning dignity for incarcerated seniors requires collaborating with of our colleagues in the elder justice movement.  Towards this goal, LSPC has organized a statewide convening of diverse stakeholders, presented at conferences including those organized by AARP, American Society on Aging, American Public Health Association; and testified before the federal Administration on Aging. We have collaborated with the Older Women’s League and the California Senior Legislature as well as co-authored an article for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

LSPC looks forward to continuing building a strong diverse movement committed to ensuring that all elders live in peace, dignity and justice.

For more information about LSPC’s work with older people in prison, please contact Heidi Strupp at 415-255-7036 ext 321 or heidi@prisonerswithchildren.org .