Septuagenarian deaths underscore push for new geriatric inmate policy

Two Nevada Department of Corrections inmates in their 70s have died in January. Their deaths come the same month the Crime and Justice Institute recommended the department implement a specialty parole option for long-term, geriatric inmates.

The Crime and Justice Institute, which spent nearly six months in 2018 compiling data regarding the state’s rising incarceration rates as part of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, presented its findings to the Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice.  

According to the group, the number of inmates older than 55 had increased 70 percent from 2009 to 2017. “As inmates age in custody, they develop medical issues at far higher rates than the general population,” the report notes.

The data also shows that inmates were admitted to the hospital 538 times in the last fiscal year, which is an 80 percent increase since 2014. “NDOC is authorized to release inmates to residential confinement who are physically incapacitated and pose no threat to public safety or are within 12 months of death,” the report says.

The policy recommendations — one of 25 the group proposed — include establishing a geriatric parole process for inmates who have reached a certain age and have served a minimum period of their sentence. They also recommend broadening the current medical residential confinement release option to include people who pose a minimal risk to public safety without the requirement that they are a year from death.

John Odoms, 72, died Jan. 28 after being in prison since 1982 and Gary Randles, 75, died Jan. 19 after being incarcerated since 1999. While the department hasn’t indicated the cause of death, they potentially could have qualified for such a program.