Number of Older Inmates Growing as Are Challenges

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By Associated Press

Published: 04/25/2003

After more than two decades in prison, Burlington, Vt., native George Ladabouche just wants to serve his time until he can be released on parole. Twenty years into a 30-years-to-life sentence Ladabouche has had plenty of time to reflect on the errors of his youth that led to his imprisonment for a 1983 drug murder in Winooski.
''I've lived the downside. Now I want to live the upside. It's within my grasp. I just want to get used to it,'' Ladabouche said recently at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport where he is now incarcerated.
The decades behind bars have done more than just changed Ladabouche's approach to life. He's getting older and at 55, he's part of an ever growing number of older inmates in state custody.
It's a trend that partly due to the demographics of an aging population, but it's mostly due to the ever-longer sentences being handed out by Vermont judges for a broader variety of crimes.
''In the past, a murderer might get a sentence of five years to life. The sentences are now 25 or 45 or 50 year minimums,'' said John Perry, the director of planning for the Vermont Department of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections is planning for the inevitable expenses that follow people as they age, including increased medical costs for elderly inmates for things such as diabetes, arthritis or heart disease, that bring with them the need for special diets and facilities to say nothing of the health care expenses themselves.
''We have folks in walkers. We have folks in wheelchairs,'' said John Perry, ''We have to have accommodations, both for where they live and what they eat.'' There are 130 Vermont's prison inmates over age 50. A decade ago there were 38, said Perry. It's unclear what the age is of the oldest inmate in custody. In Newport, the oldest inmate is 72.
But there is a positive side to having older inmates.
''They mind their own business. They'll do their time. They've already done their hell-raising,'' said Northern State Superintendent Kathy Lanman. ''They won't tolerate an inmate disrupting their lifestyle or their living unit.''
And in some cases, the older inmates will use the examples of their lives to convince younger inmates to change their behavior and stay out of trouble after their release.
''The kids have no fear, no sense of values,'' said Ladabouche, who has been eligible for parole for years, but still has no idea when he might be released. He longs to sit in front of a computer or use a compact disc. He wishes he would have listened when he was younger to people who told him he was headed for trouble.
That's another positive thing that older inmates can bring.
''To a certain extent it's a way for some of them to find redemption for themselves to help another kid avoid the life they led,'' said Perry.
In the under-construction Springfield prison a section has been designed specially for elderly inmates. It has no steps or stairs. It will be akin to a guarded nursing home.
Now most of the state's older inmates are in Newport. There is no special area for them. But Lanman is accustomed to dealing with their special needs.
In cases where an inmate is critically sick it is possible to release them on special furlough, but it's not used much, Lanman said.
The older inmates say life behind bars is harder for them than younger inmates. Not only do they have increased medical needs, most of the education and rehabilitation programs in prisons are geared for younger people, the inmates say.
For example, Jack Moore, 61, of Burlington only has a fourth grade education. He now thinks he's too old for education classes, which are mandatory for inmates under age 22.
And more than anything, the older inmates recognize what they are missing by being out of society.
''Our time is more valuable,'' Moore said.
Ladabouche wants to work as a carpenter, but he'll do anything.
''These are supposed to be our golden years,'' he said. ''I don't care if I have to flip hamburgers. I am not coming back to jail.''
And age is one thing Ladabouche and the other elderly inmates have going for them when they are released.
''We know that the greatest single factor affecting recidivism is age,'' said Perry.
''Basically you grow out of it. They slow down and take life a little bit easier.''

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