Pubdate: Mon, 24 May 2004 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 2004 Los Angeles Times Contact: http://www.latimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248 Author: Tom Pontac Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n000/a123.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) PRISON MAKES LESS SENSE FOR THE YOUNG AND OLD At $31,000 a year, is it worth it to lock up a drug abuser? The answer is certainly a resounding "no!" It is interesting to note that as the prison population ages, along with the graying of the general population, costs for these "senior" inmates, classified as those over 50 years of age (due to their harder life) in the penal system, dramatically rise. The average cost to house such seniors approaches three times that of the average inmate. If any of these aged inmates require dialysis, heart surgery, etc., as wards of the state (that's us), we are required by law to supply it. It is actually more secure for a senior with a serious infirmity and without money to be in prison than to be on "the outside." Does this make any sense at all? Tom Pontac Seal Beach - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake