Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994                   TAG: 9408250077
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE GRAYING OF VIRGINIA'S PRISONS

Demographically, though, the late teens to early 20s have been identified as the most crime-prone age, and criminologists say that an individual's bent for crime, particularly violent crime, wanes steadily with time.

Which is why many criminologists urge a reality check on currently popular ``three-strikes-and-you're-out'' laws and proposals to abolish parole.

To arbitrarily keep convicted felons behind bars long past the age when they represent any threat to society is, the experts say, counterproductive. Not only does it tie up expensive prison cells that should be used to incarcerate truly dangerous felons. It also requires prison systems to provide hospital- and hospice-like facilities and specialized treatment for the elderly, which adds to public costs of both prisons and health care.

Even the tough-on-crime Allen administration acknowledges the problem. To its credit, Gov. Allen's commission on parole abolition and sentencing reform is calling for new rules on release and gubernatorial clemency to deal with geriatric inmates.

At present, Virginia's inmate population of about 20,000 includes about 495 inmates who are 55 or older. Of these, about 110 are 65 or older. (Nationwide, according to the American Corrections Association, there are about 18,000 inmates 55 or older, some 2,000 over the age of 75.) Though the rise may be slow - no one on Allen's team can project how high or how fast - the number of elderly in state correctional facilities is certain to increase if Allen's proposals to abolish parole are passed by the General Assembly at a special session next month. Plainly - with longer sentences and no parole for many criminals, and a three-strikes law already on the state's books - the graying of the prison population is something to worry about. Not for the prisoners' sake, but for the public's.

Recently, a 67-year-old inmate, convicted of a nonviolent crime but ineligible for parole from a federal prison, was diagnosed as needing a heart transplant. Estimated cost: $125,000. Taxpayers also must pay for special facilities for geriatric prisoners, because they are particularly vulnerable to attacks and abuse by younger inmates.

To be sure, simply turning elderly prisoners onto the streets isn't cost-free. They may still be eligible for taxpayer-funded heart transplants, for instance. And some have been incarcerated so long that they have outlived or been abandoned by family and friends, and can't function on the outside without a support system. What's needed is less throw-away-the-key political posturing, and more sophisticated cost-benefit analysis.

Allen's parole-reform commission does not pretend to have the answers. It wants corrections officials to develop recommendations that can be acted on later, but implemented before a swelling in the ranks of senior citizens behind bars.

The important thing, if Virginia is to adopt Allen's parole-reform package, is to consider - and plan wisely for - the consequences. Otherwise, we could end up with a prison system that is the world's most expensive old-folks\ home.