CAPRON, Va. — Walter Melvin Atkinson is a bit vague about how long he has been in the assisted living portion of the Deerfield Correctional Center and how long he has left on his sentence. He claims to not even remember the crime — pedophilia — that landed him here.
At 92, “Speedy,” as he is called ironically by fellow prisoners and guards, is frail enough to require a wheelchair to get around, and his inmate caregivers rushed to his side to grab from his shaking hand a coffee mug that seemed destined to spill all over his cot. A huge, bright orange star has been sewn on to the white blanket that covers the cot — an idea the unit manager, Kathy Walker, dreamed up to help Atkinson spot his own bed among the six rows of beds in the spotless unit.
Atkinson is representative of an ever deepening trend in state corrections systems, and an ever growing problem, too. According to Human Rights Watch, from 2007 to 2010, the increase in the elderly population, 65 and up, being sentenced to state and federal prison outpaced the increase in the total population by 94 to 1.
Nearly every state is seeing that upward tick in elderly state prisoners. In Virginia, for example, 822 state prisoners were 50 and over (corrections officials usually consider old age for prisoners to begin at 50 or 55) in 1990, about 4.5 percent of all inmates. By 2014, that number had grown to 7,202, or 20 percent of all inmates.
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Don't have pity for these aging thugs. Now is when they are truly feeling the loneliness and despair of being isolated from family and loved ones. Now is when prisons should make it harder on them, while they are weak and vulnerable. No time for bleeding heart sentimentality.
ReplyDeleteThat's my retirement plan since I didn't get to save up enough for long term care! I'll get my assisted living for free!
ReplyDeleteStates have a choice: suck it up and provide services appropriate to the aging or commute their sentences. Once they're out though, they will essentially again be wards of the state through other state-funded programs.
ReplyDeleteLeave the old guys alone, they can't hurt anyone. At 92 if he can actually get it up, I'll bet he don't even remember what to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteDon't have pity for these aging thugs. Now is when they are truly feeling the loneliness and despair of being isolated from family and loved ones. Now is when prisons should make it harder on them, while they are weak and vulnerable. No time for bleeding heart sentimentality.
March 24, 2016 at 8:14 AM
Wow. What is the best way to respond to a clueless individual like you? Your words sound like they come from a cowardly bully. My first instinct is to hurl insults at your dispassionate self. But that would make me look bad and it wouldn't bother you at all.
It is sad that people like you still exist in this day and age. But that is a character flaw that will not be fixed on any blog.
Suffice it to say that your cruel words will come back to haunt you sometime in the future, most likely when you are most vulnerable and weak(er).