Prisons: Dealing with Dementia

This weekend the New York Times reported on how prisons are working to care for inmates with dementia. It’s a growing problem:

“Dementia in prison is an underreported but fast-growing phenomenon, one that many prisons are desperately unprepared to handle. It is an unforeseen consequence of get-tough-on-crime policies — long sentences that have created a large population of aging prisoners.”

Different states providing services to those inmates in different ways. According to the article, New York state has

“…taken the top dollar route, establishing a separate unit for cognitively impaired inmates and using professional caregivers, at a cost of about $93,000 per bed annually, compared with $41,000 in the general prison population.”

But California and Louisiana are trying something different–teaching prisoners to assist their disabled peers with daily tasks.

At the California Men’s Colony, those prisoners are called Gold Coats. They get paid $50 a month to help prisoners with dementia do things like shower, put on deodorant, shave. It’s not an easy task: “you get spit on, feces thrown on you, urine on you, you get cursed out,” inmate Shawn Henderson told the NYT.

The Gold Coats are often the first to notice when a prisoner develops signs of dementia or Alzheimers. And even though the job isn’t easy, it can be rewarding: ““Now when I come into an encounter like that on the street, I can be a lot more compassionate,” Henderson said.

When resources are stretched thin, how do you think prisons should care for inmates with dementia? And is a peer assistance program like Gold Coats the best approach?

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10 Comments on “Prisons: Dealing with Dementia”

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  1. Pete Klein says:

    Kick them out if they are no longer a danger.

  2. Pete Klein says:

    My original post was a bit harsh but the thought behind it is not.
    Many times prison terms are excessive. What is the point and why spend the money on long prison terms when the person is no longer a threat to society?

  3. mervel says:

    Two issues.

    1) Prison terms are too long I agree with Pete on that.

    2) Kick them out to what? I think the concept of providing inmates care from other inmates is an excellent and compassionate idea, it would never fly in NYS however. The structural politics of how we do things would not allow that sort of collaborative.

  4. Walker says:

    I’m stuck on that $41,000 per year per prison bed for the regular guys. Cheese Louise! How many people are in for a decade or more because they got busted several times selling $25-worth of pot? Wow!

  5. Darlin angel says:

    Wow you would think the state would consider letting more people out. I say let the other inmates in helping

  6. Shanima says:

    Honestly, I think that once they have developed a serve case of it they need to be guarded facility with actually nurses that can handle everything properly so that when it comes time for them to pass they are more at piece and they will also be less violent as well. The inmates helping is a good thing in the beginning stages but eventually it’s going to be more harder for the inmates to handle.

  7. Noel says:

    Its a nasty process demintia is a process that people in the nursing field its hard on,its a 24 hour a,day job and requires constant supervision when,a inmate is this way time,time served should be inplimited and that person should be placed where they are around careyakers who are trained to take care of these people

  8. Mervel says:

    But we don’t do that for poor people who are not criminals; what will become of a prisoner who has dementia who is just thrown back out on the street, who will take care of him?

  9. annie says:

    i belive the prison system is helping them get to that point my brother was on locked down for almost 2 years n then got off for 7 months n they r back on lock down n my father is dibetec n is 53 years old n is in n out of the hospital in his prison n even at point tried to take his life and he has the 3 sticks on him i cry a lot becuse he has never held his grandkids n as a family member i pray that one day the 3 stick law changes i want to b with my daddy he has been in there for a little over 15 year. i miss my daddy

  10. Walker says:

    How long before old folks who feel their mind starting to slip say to themselves “time to turn bank robber– what’s the worst that can happen?”

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