Welcome
Hello, and welcome to my thesis collection! The following series of articles and columns aim to shed light on a severe and undercovered issue in Colorado and our nation as a whole— elderly incarceration.
In an effort to promote transparency within journalism, I would like to share my personal views on this series of issues. I am a supporter of restorative justice efforts and advocate for shorter sentences, more rehabilitative programs, and support for incarcerated individuals of all ages before, during, and after incarceration.
Additionally, I would like to recognize the shortcomings of this thesis project. I believe that honoring the voices of people directly affected by this issue— those incarcerated and their families— is of paramount importance. In my time I was not able to directly connect with these individuals in my research. To combat this absence, I’ve chosen to include a series of links to sources that do.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my innate duty as a journalist to inform my readers with as little of my own bias as possible. In my news articles, I work to provide the most objective and impartial reporting that I can. You can be assured that I will give a voice and space to both sides of controversial issues no matter my views on the subject. My articles prioritize truth, clarity, and evidence alone.
Thank you for your time and interest in this crucial issue facing our state and nation.
Your author,
Peyton Wright
Table of Contents:
Colorado faces challenges with increasing elderly incarceration rates………………….3
An introduction to elderly incarceration
Issues continue to arise as Colorado’s inmate population ages…………………………….5
A traditional-style feature article
A who’s-who and what’s-what of power surrounding Colorado’s in incarceration…………………………………………………………………………………………………….12
A blend of a listicle and an informative piece
Diane Lawson: a leader in the fight against incarceration………………………………...16
Profile
Additional resources…………………………………………………………………………………………20
Colorado faces challenges with increasing elderly incarceration rates
A growing aging prison population calls for specialized support and policies
Updated May 2023
By: Peyton Wright
Colorado Springs, CO— Colorado is dealing with the implications of a steadily increasing elderly incarceration rate, reflecting a national trend.
The aging prison population presents unique challenges and calls for specialized support and policies. Elderly inmates often face issues both mentally and physically—after all, prisons were not initially designed to cater to an aging demographic.
In recent years, Colorado—and a bulk of the U.S., has seen a rise in elderly incarceration. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the phenomenon.
Longer sentences, brought on by tough-on-crime initiatives and changes in sentencing laws, have played a significant role.
Elderly inmates often have different healthcare needs compared to their younger counterparts, as they are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses and age-related conditions.
To combat these conditions correctional facilities must provide specialized care and allocate additional resources to meet the unique healthcare requirements of these inmates.
That care comes at a high price.
The cost of incarcerating elderly prisoners tends to be significantly higher due to increased healthcare expenses and the need for additional resources.
Colorado authorities are dealing with these financial implications as they strive to ensure that adequate support is provided to the aging prison population.
Recognizing the need to address the challenges associated with elderly incarceration, Colorado is exploring alternative approaches to punishment and rehabilitation.
Policymakers are examining potential solutions such as compassionate release programs, specialized housing units, and alternative sentencing options.
These measures are designed to provide appropriate support and services to elderly individuals in incarceration while considering public safety and opinion.
Inmates each have their own individual circumstances, and these new measures are working to cater solutions to each elderly person in the system.
Advocates for change argue for collaboration among all affected parties, including correctional officials, healthcare providers, advocacy groups, and policymakers.
At the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the goal is to provide comprehensive care for inmates while incarcerated, release inmates when their risk of recidivism is low, and continue to support individuals as they reintegrate into society and after their release.
But Colorado is not alone in facing these challenges.
The prison population is aging, and the conversations and coverage surrounding elderly incarceration have gained attention.
This increased awareness and advocacy for reform have resulted in some positive changes.
But experts say a multi-faceted approach is needed to address the complex issues surrounding elderly incarceration effectively.
This approach includes improving healthcare services in correctional facilities, by offering specialized training to prison staff to deal with the unique needs of elderly inmates, and exploring alternative sentencing options that consider the individual circumstances of elderly offenders.
Initiatives already being implemented include vocational training, educational programs, and transitional services. These solutions each pose their own problems and complications, but they aim to assist elderly individuals in successfully reintegrating into society upon release.
Issues Continue to Arise as Colorado’s Inmate Population Ages
September 2022
By: Peyton Wright
It’s hard to get old. It can also be hard to take care of people that are old, especially in prisons where the number of elderly inmates has skyrocketed, leaving insufficient resources to take care of those who have practice being violent, but now have a bad hip.
In Colorado and across the country the consequences of the justice department’s decades-long effort to be “tough on crime” has caused the average age of the nation’s prison population to rise in recent years.
US Aging says “between 2007 and 2010 the number of state and federal prisoners age 65 and older grew at a rate 94 times the overall prison population, making it the fastest growing demographic.”
According to the New York Times, “Dementia in prison is an underreported but fast-growing phenomenon, one that many prisons are desperately unprepared to handle.”
Colorado’s legislature attempted to address the growing issue in 2021, passing the Improve Prison Release Outcomes Bill, a modification to the DOC’s existing Special Needs Parole.
The act aims to get more elderly inmates out of prison by broadening the eligibility criteria for inmates to apply for special needs parole.
With the revamp, any inmate can apply for special needs parole.
The act also intends to support prisoners upon release, promising to ensure that any inmate 65 years or older has some form of health insurance arranged by the time they are released.
If an inmate does not have a health insurance policy of their own organized, it becomes the DOC’s responsibility to enroll them in either Medicare or another insurance, depending on which coverage will support them more comprehensively.
The DOC will fund this insurance policy fully for a period of up to six months, and in cases where the person is still under the DOC’s jurisdiction, they may continue to be supported financially beyond that period, given an incapability to afford insurance without assistance.
Dianne Tramutola-Lawson, the director of Colorado Cure, describes this bill as a step in the right direction, but there is still a dramatic difference between being eligible for parole and having it be granted.
The Colorado Parole Board takes into account a number of factors when determining a parole candidate’s fate, including: “the nature and circumstances of the offense…; the inmate’s behavioral history while incarcerated; participation in treatment and programs; and current psychological and medical evaluations.” according to hmichaaelsteinberg.com.
Yet a number of inmates find themselves incapable of completing these requirements. Tramutola-Lawson says that getting an inmate into their required treatments and programs is significantly easier said than done.
Many elderly inmates find themselves stuck on waiting lists for various programs, with no concrete answer as to when they’ll be able to get off of them and progress towards their potential release.
Spending time in a halfway house is often one of the requirements given to inmates in order to be eligible for parole, but at any given time the waitlist for a bed in one of Colorado’s halfway homes can be upwards of 100 people long.
The list is particularly daunting for aging individuals, as waitlists for specialty beds with the capacity to care for individuals dealing with health concerns like dementia are particularly hard to come by.
Tramutola-Lawson says one inmate has been otherwise approved for release but has been waiting for nearly two years for a spot to open up for him in one of the homes, and still does not know when he’ll be given the chance.
The shortage of spaces in halfway houses in Colorado skyrocketed in 2019 when the Denver City Council decided to terminate contracts with two of the city’s major providers, which initiated the closing of six of the city’s 11 facilities.
A seventh closed shortly after as a result of the pandemic stressors.
Colorado’s DOJ has explored placing elderly incarcerated individuals into nursing homes, but many homes are reluctant to take in current inmates out of fear that they will scare or endanger current residents and their loved ones.
This method has only been successful for a fraction of older parolees and does not stand as an overarching solution.
Prison reform advocates view nursing homes’ reluctance to take in paroled people as unnecessary, and argue that data shows compelling evidence that individuals, including chronic offenders, tend to stop committing crimes by their forties.
Data from the American Bar Association also shows that serving a lengthy sentence– which a majority of incarcerated people above the age of 65 are, has little impact on the likelihood of someone reoffending once released. Activists argue that keeping elderly individuals who’ve already spent years in prison incarcerated does not provide any significant increase in the general population’s safety and well-being, and has negative implications for these inmates, their families, and the general public.
The ABA also says that “state and federal governments bear the financial burden of over-incarceration.” Across the nation, states spend an average of $33,274 every year to incarcerate one individual.
The United State’s incarceration rate has grown “dramatically” in the past 40 years, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
Colorado’s incarceration rate falls below the national average, at 614 individuals per every 100,000 people. Yet it is still more than four times as high as any other NATO-founding country.
The cost to care for inmates also grows as those incarcerated age and develop increasing needs for more specialized, and expensive, medical care.
Life in prison tends to look very different compared to that of a typical American, and the wear and tear an inmate’s brain and body can experience in that environment can have major health effects.
The National Institute of Corrections defines inmates 50 years and older as elderly, a large and growing portion of the 15,154 inmates recorded in November 2022. Their reasoning stems from a lack of medical treatment before placement behind bars and a combination of stress and inadequate care during their time in the prison system.
Some scholars also believe that the lifespan of incarcerated individuals in the US prison system is shortened by a year for every two that they serve.
Experts told the New York Times that despite a lack of formal studies, they believe prisoners’ tendency to develop of Alzheimer’s disease earlier in their life may be connected to the lack of stimulation these prisoners experience.
Many prisoners do not have access to the most well-studied preventive measures, such as mentally stimulating job opportunities, consistent and enriching social interactions, and stimulating leisure activities.
Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more common in the United States, with 5.4 million Americans currently being affected. That number is expected to double by 2040, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Facing issues with moving elderly incarcerated folks out of prison, efforts to take care of vulnerable inmates– while staying within prison budgets have inspired a variety of creative solutions across the country.
Former Maine State Department of Corrections Commissioner, aptly named Randall Liberty, found some success by cutting the overall food costs of the Maine State Prison by developing a large garden that he and his residents (inmates is not a term used within his facility) tend to, which produces upwards of twenty thousand pounds of fresh produce each year. Their savings in this department help them fund other areas, like growing medical costs.
In California, 11 prisons are utilizing a progressive “Gold Coats” program, which tasks healthy inmates who have relatively good records to look after others who struggle with dementia and other complications associated with old age.
The Gold Coats are paid $50 each month in exchange for a variety of tasks, from assisting an inmate with matters related to their personal hygiene, escorting them to appointments and meals, and functioning as companions; in some cases, they act as protectors from other inmates who see older prisoners as easy targets.
Government officials supposedly proposed making the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility a prison for “medically-compromised” individuals, however, it was never implemented, and the prison closed in 2011.
Without a designated special needs prison, Colorado’s incarceration facilities face another nationally-occurring dilemma; how to refit their current prisons in a way that they can accommodate the growing number of prisoners with mobility and memory issues.
Owen Murray, the Chief Physician for Correctional Managed Care at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told the Pew Research Center that prisons were designed for people between the ages of 18 and 55, and therefore adequate construction of things like ramps and shower handles have been overlooked in most facilities.
With such a high number of elderly inmates, it’s difficult to guarantee that these individuals will have access to even the most basic accommodations, like having a bottom bunk so they don’t experience pain trying to get in and out of bed each day.
Other costs include increasing medical staff, who are necessary to assist in daily tasks like moving to and from their obligations and bathing.
With budgets stretched thin and assisted living services consistently falling short of demonstrated need, prisons around the country have had to up their criteria for which elderly inmates can be considered eligible for a place in assisted living wings.
The Pew Research Center found that at Deerfield Prison in Texas, inmates who were once considered for assisted living because of a lack of ability to dress, bathe, or walk by themselves now must exhibit an inability to do at least two of these actions to be considered for the program’s waitlist.
A portion of Colorado’s Special Needs Parole, known as compassionate release, was designed to address the wishes of inmates who are likely to die long before their sentence ends, by allowing them to go into the care of loved ones for their final days.
Yet critics say the approval process often takes a significant amount of inmates’ and their loved one’s time and energy, despite being designed to lessen their pains.
The Denver Post chronicled one inmate’s family’s struggle to bring him home in 2021, a process that his family described as unnecessarily long and extremely disheartening.
Some elderly inmates don’t have much time to wait for approval, particularly those suffering from a terminal illness, as prisons do not cover some expensive disease care, such as radiation or chemotherapy for those diagnosed with cancer.
Understanding that a number of elderly inmates will experience the last moments of their lives while behind bars, Colorado was the first state to address the needs of dying inmates through hospice care in 2013, introducing a program to train healthy prisoners to look after their most vulnerable in their final days.
The program, which holds a number of similarities to the Gold Coats, was initiated at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City and aims to provide comfort and connection to inmates facing diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C, while inmates who have been convicted of violent crimes are given the opportunity to take on a caretaker’s role.
Participation in the caretaking role does not affect an inmate’s ability to get an earlier parole hearing date, however, it may affect said hearing’s outcome for some inmates.
Hospice programs are now provided at 75 prisons across the country, with a number employing the work of inmates.
Even with growing attention, resources, and creative solutions being dedicated to bettering the treatment of elderly inmates, Tramutola-Lawson says there are still more, and greater, problems than solutions.
A former Colorado Police Officer was sentenced to 45 days in jail this August for failure to intervene in the violent arrest of a woman with dementia. The incident revolved around the woman leaving a grocery store with roughly $14 in stolen items.
Her family told The Colorado Sun that the event caused her to now require “around-the-clock care.”
The ABA published an article in May detailing their concerns with charging people with dementia for crimes, because they often don’t realize the crime they are committing, and may suffer from hallucinations that cause them to commit crimes in the first place.
They also argue that prisons are not equipped to care for inmates with dementia and that the best place for these inmates would be in “community-based care.”
A more detailed report with research findings and recommendations is due to come out this year.
A who’s-who and what’s-what of power surrounding Colorado’s in incarceration
Three major players and their positions related to the Colorado criminal justice system
Updated: May 2023
By: Peyton Wright
Who: Cole Finegan
United States Attorney for the District of Colorado
What’s what:
As the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, Cole Finegan is the state's most powerful federal law enforcement officer. Since his appointment in 2021, Finegan has overseen all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation on behalf of the United States Government.
Now he leads a team of over 160 government attorneys.
Finegan was nominated for the position by President Biden and was subsequently confirmed by the United States Senate. He was officially sworn in on December 1, 2021.
Prior to this appointment, he was Chief of Staff for the Denver Mayor and the Denver City Attorney, working alongside the Manager of Public Safety, the Denver Police Department, and the Denver Sheriff's Office.
During this period, Finegan co-chaired a task force which reviewed the Denver police’s use of force and evaluated civilian oversight of the department. The team's work resulted in the establishment of Denver's first independent police monitor and established an entire series of reforms designed to improve training protocols and review any incidents that involve deadly force by an officer.
Finegan has also advocated for transparency in the police by facilitating access to internal police records and studying diverse community policing models in Denver.
Outside of his public service roles, he worked in private practice. There, he focused on creating and building partnerships, specifically where business and government intersect.
Prior to becoming Chief of Staff for the Denver mayor, Finegan was selected to be Chief Legal Counsel in the Office of the Governor for the State of Colorado. While there he led a policy development team of around 60 people.
The development team focused on a number of policy issues, including “the realms of economic, environmental, healthcare, energy, criminal justice, telecommunications, transportation, and education” according to the United States Attorney's Office District of Colorado Website.
Finegan has racked up a number of awards throughout his career here in Colorado. From 2010 to 2019, and in 2021, he was recognized as one of the best lawyers in America.
He was named a Colorado Super Lawyer multiple times, including from 2007 to 2009 and 2012 to 2018.
Law Week Colorado named him a Lawyer of the Decade.
Outside of his legal career, Finegan helped establish Denver's inaugural Family Justice Center, which fights domestic violence.
Finegan earned his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame University and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Who: Jared Polis
Governor of Colorado
What’s what:
Jared Polis is the 43rd governor of Colorado and is currently on his second term as the state's chief executive. Polis represents the Democratic party here in Colorado, and his background includes being a former congressman, and tech entrepreneur.
Polis is a wealthy man by anyone’s standards; the Dever Gatette reported his net-worth to be roughly $400 million in 2022.
He has used his money to support Democratic causes and has contributed substantial financial support in the effort to make Colorado a more democratic state.
With his initial election in 2018, Polis became the first openly gay man to be elected governor of any U.S. state.
His first term as governor was largely defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he became “one of the most visible governors in the state's history,” according to Colorado Public Radio.
During the term, he spent significant time advocating for vaccinations and mask-wearing.
Polis has emphasized his administration's efforts to save people money on healthcare and property taxes and has enacted policies aimed at reducing costs and addressing what he believes are Colorado's biggest challenges: inflation, crime, education, and sprawl.
Some Republicans have argued that Polis has grown the size of government, raised the cost of living and business, and failed to address critical issues like rising crime.
His criminal justice reform legislation drew a lot of controversy, specifically by signing a law that reduced penalties for drug possession.
In his time as governor Polis has focused on healthcare reform, including regulations to provide more affordable access to healthcare, and education reform, such as implementing free full-day kindergarten and expanding pre-school education through "sin taxes" on nicotine.
Polis has often used fees instead of taxes to fund initiatives, which has also been quite controversial. Some critics argue that it undermines the state's fiscal laws.
During the pandemic, Polis utilized powers rarely seen to issue executive orders, close businesses, mandate masks, and protect renters.
He has been a consistent and vocal advocate for vaccinations and has highlighted the state's high vaccination rates.
His second and final term will come to an end in 2026.
Who: Moses ‘Andre’ Stancil
Department of Corrections Executive Director
What’s what:
Moses “Andre” Stancil has been an employee of the Colorado Department of Corrections for nearly a quarter-century. He was appointed as Executive Director earlier this year.
Stancil was nominated by current Colorado governor Jared Polis and later confirmed by the Senate.
“Andre has been a dedicated member of the federal Bureau of Prisons team and now the Colorado Department of Corrections for many years,” Polis told his team. “...we are thrilled that he will bring his expertise and commitment to this critical role.”
The appointment of Stancil has drawn public attention, although he was approved by the Sentate with votes to spare.
Governor Polis says Stancil was the man for the job because of his experience and dedication to the DOC. He says he believes Stancil will play a “critical role” in achieving Colorado's goal of becoming one of the nation's ten safest states within the next five years.
"It is the honor of my career to be selected as the DOC executive director," Stancil told Governor Polis’ team.
Diane Lawson: a lifetime of triumph, troubles, and true love in the fight for criminal justice reform
October 2022
By: Peyton Wright
Diane Lawson’s lastname is rather fitting if you ask her. She’s spent decades pouring over the laws that keep more than 30,000 individuals behind bars in Colorado. She’s been fighting for change for almost her entire career, and she’s still not done.
Lawson is 80 years old.
She had a funny introduction to Colorado Cure, beginning back when she was a teacher in the Denver high schools.
She taught for 31 years; she remembers when the Supreme Court ordered bussing to integrate the schools. Black and Hispanic kids were bused over to the high school where she was teaching, which had 99.9% Anglo enrollment.
The southeast Denver native was tasked with teaching her students during a historic change. She was determined to do a good job. While she says she only taught French, she was able to connect on a unique level with her students.
After a while, the principal asked her to quit teaching French and visit the homes and the projects.
Her response makes her laugh now.
“Where’s all that?” she asked him. The proposition confused her.
“I knew nothing about anything but French,” she jokes.
Despite her believed lack of qualifications Lawson took on the opportunity as eagerly as she could.
When she went to visit one of the rec centers for the first time, she didn’t tell the kids that she was teaching that she was going.
She went in and immediately saw a lot of the kids that she knew, but unlike in the classroom, none of them spoke to her.
She received a cold stare from what felt like every direction.
She started saying hi to the kids but quickly realized that they wouldn’t talk.
Then, change.
Not a change in the expressions of the people around her, or in the attitudes of her students.
Pennies started rolling by her on the floor, slowly.
She thought it meant someone had simply dropped their change, and didn’t think anything of it.
It didn’t take her long to learn that it wasn’t nothing—it was a way to show disrespect.
When she had finally wrapped up her uncomfortable first visit she went outside and headed toward her car, eager to decompress. When she reached her car— a little old green Datsun— she found it totally destroyed; the tires were all slashed and it had white lead takes all over.
She went to the corner where there was a little grocery store– now long gone– and phoned the police.
The first officer that came had been one of her French students once, and he told her that they were not responsible for her “down here.”
He asked her, “you know what you’re doing?” His comment stemmed from her relationship status; she wasn’t married yet, and this was a bad place for her to be seen by the rest of her community.
The next day at school the same kids who hadn’t talked to her before came in and said they heard someone “effed up” her car.
She said yeah, and proudly told them that she was going to find out who did it and “prosecute to the extent of the law,” because it sounded good when people said that on tv.
She then told them that she’d gotten a rental car and would be returning to the rec center the following night.
She did return.
When she arrived, the “head guy”, a man who was as sharp as he was frank, gave her some advice.
With a loud voice, he told her to five around the corner in front of his house. She obliged.
She used that parking spot every day for the rest of her time working at the rec center, and her car was never touched again.
Back at the school, the principal started having Lawson teach English and social studies in the morning and do house visits in the afternoon.
The house visits were straightforward. She would go, and ask the kids questions like where is your father? Your grandfather? Your uncle?
She quickly saw a pattern emerge: these men were long-distance truck drivers, they were in prison, wherever they were, they weren’t home.
The fatherly figures in the kids’ lives had often been gone for ten plus years.
She got to know kids who would end up being sent to jail, to prison, or put on probation. Kids who she’s kept up with for nearly half a century.
These kids and their families got her involved in researching the system, and thinking that she had to do something to help families navigate the system she could only describe as crazy.
The idea brought her to Citizens United for Rehabilitation and its founder Pauline Solomon.
Solomon was quick to suggest that she start Colorado Cure, insisting it would just be a little volunteer job.
But despite humble beginnings; they were a small team comprised of just five volunteers, the organization became something much larger than what she could have predicted in August 1990.
Now she works with a board of 11, and has all 20 of the state’s prison wardens on her speed dial.
It’s through this work that she met her husband, once considered a “lifer,” whom she visited at prisons around the state for 20 years before being able to spend 15 years together on the outside.
He passed away in 2016. She remembers him often referring to himself as a “lifer of the party.”
Even after his passing, she continues to do the work that she’s devoted decades of her life to.
It's hard work, and there always seems to be more problems than solutions. But she’s seen the progress they’ve made firsthand, and every success they have is more than worth the effort.
