Authorizes a study by the department of corrections and community supervision pertaining to the treatment of aging prison populations

• Democratic5

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Kevin S. Parker says this is needed

While the inmate population in New York has decreased dramatically in recent years through the advent of determinate sentencing, reforms to Rockefeller Drug Laws, increased use of alternatives to incarceration and expanded eligibility of shock incarceration, the population of inmates left behind in prison is aging rapidly. At the end of 1992, we had a population of 61,376 inmates, 2,461, or 4c, of whom were elderly. By the end of 2006, we had a population of 63,304 inmates, but the number of elderly inmates increased disproportionately to 6,945, or lit of the total inmate population. On May 1, 2015, we had a population that had decreased to 52,136 inmates and yet the number of elderly inmates was 9,926, or 17% of the inmate population. The trend is clear. Under our current sentencing policies and parole board practices, the elderly inmate population will continue to grow. Unless we provide new release mechanisms to reduce the number of inmates who are too old, frail or infirm to pose a risk to safety, the alterna- tive is to plan for resources to meet the needs of a growing elderly population behind bars. In 2011, $33 million was spent to add 38 hospice beds to serve dying inmates placed in the Regional Medical Unit (RMU) at Walsh Medical Center located within the confines of Mohawk Correctional Facility in Oneida County. A Unit for the Cognitively Impaired located in Fishkill Correctional Facility's RMU utilizes professional caregivers to provide services to incarcerated individuals living with dementia. The average cost per bed at this unit is $93,000. More than double the $41,000 per bed in the general prison population. With 9,300 inmates elderly inmates currently, more is needed than just these two special- ized units. The issue of aging people in prison is arguably a matter of economic urgency, a public health crisis, a violation of human rights or a reflection of the critical shortcomings of our criminal justice system, depending on the eyes of the beholder. All perspectives should agree, however, that the prison system, half of which was built more than a century ago, is not equipped to handle an increasingly aging population. With the rapid growth in the number of older prisoners being retained in prison it is essential for policymakers to fully understand how best to address the needs of a changing prison population. Accordingly, any serious and sustainable attempt to resolve this crisis requires a multifaceted approach and cross-disciplinary discussion among experts. This legislation begins that process by requiring the Depart- ment to conduct a study of the challenges posed by the aging prison population, including a review of existing and necessary resources, and-provide a report of its findings and its plans to the legislature one year after the effective date of this bill.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.