{"id":5589,"date":"2012-02-27T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2012-02-27T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2012-02-27T13:57:07","slug":"prisons-dealing-with-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/02\/27\/prisons-dealing-with-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Prisons: Dealing with Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend the New York Times reported on how prisons are working to care for inmates with dementia<\/a>.\u00a0It’s a growing problem:<\/p>\n

“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 \u2014 long sentences that have created a large population of aging prisoners.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Different states providing services to those inmates in different ways. According to the article, New York state has<\/p>\n

“…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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But California and Louisiana are trying something different–teaching prisoners to assist their disabled peers with daily tasks.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cyou get spit on, feces thrown on you, urine on you, you get cursed out,” inmate Shawn Henderson told the NYT.<\/p>\n

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:\u00a0“\u201cNow when I come into an encounter like that on the street, I can be a lot more compassionate,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend the New York Times reported on how prisons are working to care for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4872,4803],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}