More photos.

Listen to Part 4: "Growing Old in Jail"
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Listen to Follow-up conversations
 Listen to a sixty-four year old inmate.
 Listen to a conversation with a corrections officer and a criminologist who studies the problems of aging inmates.

The number of elderly inmates in United States prisons has skyrocketed in the last 20 years by 750 percent.

Some corrections officers say canes, walkers and colostomy bags are now standard issue in the prisons.

In New England, older inmates still makeup just a small portion of the overall prison population, but their numbers are growing, as are the costs of caring for them.

In Part 4 of our series, "The Price of Punishment”, producer Jennifer Schmidt looks at the struggles of inmates and prison officials alike as they cope with old age behind bars.

Lawmakers Investigating Alleged Prisoner Mistreatment - a WBUR report WBUR Investigates Allegations of Abuse of Prisoners Kansas Elder Law Network's - KELN Bibliography: The Quality of Care of Elderly Inmates in Prison Coalition for Federal Sentencing Reform - Elderly Inmates: Issues and Solutions, National Forum April 29, 1999