This piece, on how long sentences ignore the voluminous research on how ppl age out of prison, is quite important. But one caveat: one reason the older pop is growing is … bc we lock up a lot of older ppl when they’re older. nytimes.com/2021/10/23/opi… 
The BJS report isn’t so detailed for the over-50s as for the over-65s, but for the over 65s, half have served under 10 years… meaning they were admitted in their mid-50s, at the youngest.
I’d also add that over-50s are still just abt 10% of all ppl in prison. They’re great candidates for release, and we should release a lot of them (and surely stop admitting a lot of them).
But releasing all the oldest ppl in prison will still leave us w staggering prison pops.
But releasing all the oldest ppl in prison will still leave us w staggering prison pops.
Which is to say: the oldest are the fasting growing pop in prisons bc of … of course … baserates.
(Also, when I looked at recent CA data from the NCRP, many of the older admits were for violence: still should rethink admits, but… not always easy cases.)
(Also, when I looked at recent CA data from the NCRP, many of the older admits were for violence: still should rethink admits, but… not always easy cases.)
I’d add: in the past, an even bigger percent (of a much smaller relative pop) of older inmates were older admits. Which is to say: a bigger chunk of the aging pop is long-serving younger admits. But still a lot of older admits.
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