New York plan puts spotlight on graying of U.S. prison population

Eleven percent of the U.S. state and federal prison population was over age 55 in 2016. The American Civil Liberties Union projects that by 2030, more than one-third of the U.S. prison population will be over age 55 – more than 400,000 people in 2015-2016, the cost of healthcare in New York State prisons totaled $380.6 million, up 20 percent from three years earlier. But the elderly prison population is composed largely of violent offenders. In New York state, the overall prison population fell 17 percent from 2007 through 2016 to about 52,000, according to a report last year by the New York State Comptroller.
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