Poetry, Prison, and the Pandemic

Tyler’s case shows how bias, fear, and discrimination drive wrongful convictions — and why confronting racial injustice in the legal system remains urgent today.

Invading privacy as well as "barking up the wrong tree"

NEW YORK - Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a lifelong organizer and activist for the safety and dignity of transgender people, sex workers, and the incarcerated, passed away yesterday, as confirmed by House of GG. The following is a statement from Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project: “Miss Major mothered the entire trans community through decades that spanned the Stonewall rebellion, the AIDS crisis, the ongoing criminalization of sex work, and the backlash to LGBTQ equality waged on the bodies of trans people over the last five years. She showed up in the streets, in state legislatures and city councils, and in court. But above all else, she provided the type of shelter that so many long for and lack in a world of familial, societal, and community rejection. “When Arkansas became the first state in the country to ban gender affirming medical care for trans adolescents in 2021, Miss Major, having moved to Little Rock to serve her southern trans family after Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, consistently came to court to mobilize in solidarity with the trans young people whose health care was being threatened. She ensured that we never lost touch with our history and that we believed in our power regardless of the outcome of any election, any legislative debate, or any court case. In her honor, we will continue the fight for trans justice, not just in the legal battles we fight but through the love and care we bring to our communities and to this work. Thank you, Miss Major.”

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs released Trapped in Time: The Silent Crisis of Elderly Incarceration today, a report exposing how U.S. prisons are failing to keep up with the rising number of aging people behind bars. Outdated sentencing laws have left tens of thousands of people imprisoned for decades, creating a humanitarian, fiscal, and operational crisis as correctional departments struggle to meet the medical, mental health, and accessibility needs of an aging prison population. The number of older people in prison has skyrocketed over the past three decades, making them one of the fastest-growing groups behind bars. Many were sentenced under outdated extreme sentencing laws as teenagers or young adults and have now spent decades in prison. Yet research shows that elderly individuals are the least likely to reoffend: Recidivism rates for people over 50 are just a fraction of those for younger age groups, as low as 6 percent in certain states like Florida. “Prisons were never designed to serve as makeshift nursing homes, yet that is exactly what they have become,” said Alyssa Gordon, legal fellow at the ACLU’s National Prison Project and report lead author. “Keeping people locked up into old age does nothing to make us safer, but it guarantees needless suffering and ballooning costs for taxpayers. Releasing elderly people from prison is safe, cost-effective, and would reduce the burden on systems that are ill-equipped to meet the distinct needs of a rapidly aging population. Cost savings could then be reinvested into the community to create and bolster social programs — decarceral solutions that would actually keep us safe.” The report draws on data from public records requests to all 50 states to assess the challenges of managing a rapidly aging prison population. Key findings from the report include: The elderly prison population is exploding. In 1991, older people made up just 3 percent of the prison population. By 2021, that number had risen to 15 percent, or about 1 in 6 incarcerated people. If current trends continue, by 2030, as much as one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over 50. Prisons are not equipped to handle the medical and mental health needs of aging people. Older adults have far greater medical and mental health needs than their younger counterparts, but prisons consistently fail to provide adequate care. Many systems outsource health services to private providers that cut costs by delaying or denying treatment. Access to mental health care is extremely limited, and virtually no facilities are prepared to address dementia or cognitive decline. Elderly people experience distinct harms during incarceration that compromise their health and safety. Aging adults are forced to navigate facilities that were not built with them in mind. High bunks, inaccessible showers, and extreme temperatures due to lack of air conditioning can be challenging if not life-threatening to elderly people. When emergencies strike, from natural disasters to COVID outbreaks, prisons lack adequate emergency protocols, leaving older people at greatest risk of harm. Keeping elderly people in prison is costly and unsustainable. Housing an aging population in prison creates a significant and growing financial burden on state prison budgets. The data shows that medical costs for elderly incarcerated people have risen sharply across all states, with steep increases every year. The report also provides policymakers with evidence-based recommendations to reduce the elderly prison population and to limit the harm that aging people experience behind bars. Specifically, it recommends that lawmakers and elected officials: Expand opportunities for compassionate release by removing barriers that limit its use; Allow courts to revisit long sentences after 10 to 15 years regardless of the original offense; Repeal or modify outdated extreme sentencing laws that created the current aging behind bars crisis; Address the complex reentry needs of elderly individuals released from prison; Better protect elderly individuals who remain in prison by ensuring they receive age-appropriate health care and by providing hospice services and dementia care; and Ensure that prisons comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. “These are common-sense recommendations that will better protect the aging population in prison, and that do not put public safety at risk,” said Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas and co-author of the report. “They will save taxpayers money, limit unnecessary incarceration, and lead to a safer and more dignified setting for any elderly individuals who remain in prison.” The report was co-authored by Alyssa Gordon, legal fellow at the ACLU's National Prison Project; Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas; and Alycia Welch, associate director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas (pjil@austin.utexas.edu).   The full report can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/publications/trapped-in-time-the-silent-crisis-of-elderly-incarceration