Pubdate: 6/4/98 Source: Tulsa World (OK) Contact: http://www.tulsaworld.com Author: David Averill OUR CODGER CONS Talk of a geriatric prison might conjure up a humorous image in some minds. "Grumpy Old Men" meets "Cool Hand Luke." Sun City with cells, where codger cons sit on the porch gumming their Melba toast and prison gruel, waxing nostalgic for the old days before criminality went to hell in a handbasket. But dealing with codger cons, as well as those who are disabled or infirm, is a serious and growing issue faced by Oklahoma Department of Corrections officials. There are about 400 inmates in the Oklahoma corrections system, among an inmate population of 20,000, who are 60 years old or older. That number is expected to grow, due to a couple of factors. One is the state's life-without-parole law. It gives juries the option of sentencing convicted murderers to life in prison without any hope of parole. Unlike most of those who receive death sentences or conventional life terms with the possibility of parole after 15 years or so, life-without-parole inmates face the prospect of old age behind bars. There are 339 no-parole inmates in Oklahoma prisons and juries' preference for that sentence, as an alternative to death, appears to be growing; yearly no-parole receptions into the system have increased, almost without exception, since life-without-parole was approved by the Legislature in 1989. Life-without-parole is less than a decade old and most violent crimes are committed by young men. So the law's impact on the elderly inmate population will not begin to be felt for another 15 or 20 years. Oklahoma's new truth-in-sentencing law also will eventually affect the number of elderly inmates. One of the aims of the law is to lengthen time served for serious offenses. Achieving that end will result in a prison population that is somewhat older than the current average age of 35 years. Based on legislative wrangling over truth in sentencing during the past two sessions, the law is a work in progress; its impact won't be known until lawmakers finally work out all the details. Another complicating factor: The usual age-related health problems faced by older people are often exacerbated in prison inmates by their early, unhealthy lifestyles, which in a majority of cases include alcohol and drug abuse. Convicts essentially become wards of the state when they enter prison, and their health care becomes the responsibility of the state. Elderly, disabled and infirm inmates currently are scattered among the state's penal institutions. The corrections department spends about $2.2 million a year to transport those in need of medical care to two state-operated health facilities -- Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman and University Hospital in Oklahoma City. In addition, there is some debate as to whether the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires certain physical accommodations -- wheelchair ramps and the like -- for the disabled applies to prisons. Even if it doesn't, state prisons are obligated to provide for inmates in a humane manner. Together these factors argue for a special prison for geriatric, disabled and infirm inmates. Corrections officials propose construction of a 380-bed medium- and maximum-security facility at Lexington. The facility, which would cost an estimated $18.7 million to build and $6.5 million a year to operate, would include 250 beds for geriatric, disabled and infirm; a 50-bed infirmary for post- operative and other health care, and an 80-bed transit unit where inmates from throughout the system could be housed for transport to hospitals. The proposed facility would be part of the Joseph Harp Correctional Center, a medium-security prison at Lexington. It would be within a mile of the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, which is the first stop for inmates into the system, and close to the hospitals at Norman and Oklahoma City. Providing health care for inmates, who are not covered by medical insurance, is an expensive proposition -- more than $1 million a year. It will become increasingly so as the number of codger cons grows. - --- Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"