The cost of caring for Illinois’ aging prison population

The cost of caring for Illinois’ aging prison population
Caring for inmates over 50 accounts for about one-third of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ total budget. AP/Sandy Summers Russell
The cost of caring for Illinois’ aging prison population
Caring for inmates over 50 accounts for about one-third of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ total budget. AP/Sandy Summers Russell

The cost of caring for Illinois’ aging prison population

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Illinois’ prisons are strapped for cash and caring for the growing number of elderly prisoners is part of the problem. Inmates over 50 are a fairly small slice of the overall prison population. But according to a new report released Wednesday in the Chicago Reader, they use about one-third of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ total budget.

Jessica Pupovac is the freelance journalist behind the report and has been sifting through the figures. She joined “Eight Forty-Eight” to discuss what she unearthed for her piece, “Guarding Grandpa: Illinois is spending money it doesn’t have to keep convicts who can barely walk behind bars.”

RELATED LINKS:

2010 Vera Institute study
2009 Illinois Department of Corrections annual report

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