By Frank Green
Richmond Times-Dispatch
RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Corrections is required to provide all inmates with “needed health care for medical, dental and mental-health services consistent with community standards.”
According to the department, in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007, the annual cost per inmate at the Deerfield Correctional Center was $27,985, compared with $23,246 per capita systemwide and $16,000 to $17,000 a year at medium-security dormitory facilities.
A recent survey of 41 states and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons by Corrections Today found there were almost 125,000 inmates 50 or older, but fewer than 10,000 beds in facilities dedicated to older inmates.
The Corrections Today report predicts the nation’s older inmate population could increase tenfold in the next decade and the associated health costs could double that.
Any Virginia inmate -- except those who have committed capital murder -- is eligible for a geriatric parole if 60 and has served at least 10 years of a sentence, or if the inmate is 65 and has served at least five years of the sentence.
There have been just nine geriatric releases by the parole board, though the board notes many inmates who are paroled did not apply for a geriatric release.
The Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission projects the number of inmates eligible for geriatric release will double from 500 in 2007, to 1,003 by 2010.
The Department of Corrections says many are rejected for geriatric parole because of the serious nature of their crimes. The department has been monitoring the geriatric population and has been issuing reports for each of the last three years.
The department hopes to add an 80-bed nursing unit; an 89-bed assisted-living unit; and a 42-bed Alzheimer’s unit at Deerfield for $24 million. The department is also planning for a $171 million, 150-bed hospital at the Powhatan Correctional Center to serve the entire system.
Copyright 2009 Richmond Times - Dispatch