美国老年囚犯人数激增

Prisons
美国监狱

America’s geriatric prison population is growing
美国老年囚犯人数激增

The costs are large, the benefits slight
成本高，收益低

ISMAEL IGARTUA got his first job, as a counsellor at a homeless shelter, when he was 55 years old. For the previous 29 years he was imprisoned on charges stemming from an incident during which he shot a police officer in the arm. In prison he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in theology.
据英国《经济学人》网站的消息：伊斯梅尔·伊加图（ISMAEL IGARTUA）在55岁时获得了首份工作：担任收容所的辅导员。此前，他因枪击一名警察手臂的案件被判入狱服刑29年。在监狱里，他分别取得了神学学士学位和硕士学位。 

After his release, Mr Igartua says he had to learn how to order food in a restaurant, and relearn how to cross a busy New York street. At least he had a family to return to. Many older ex-convicts do not: more than 70% of prisoners above the age of 50 released in New York went directly to a homeless shelter.
伊加图表示，在刑满释放后，他不得不学习如何在餐馆点餐，并重新学习如何穿过繁忙的纽约街道。他至少有家可归。许多年过半百的释囚却并非如此：在纽约，有超过70%的50多岁的囚犯在刑满释放后直接去了收容所。

Between 1993 and 2013 America’s crime rate fell from around 52 crimes per 1,000 people to 23. At the same time, largely because of America’s penchant for handing out long sentences, the number of people over 55 in state prisons rose from 26,300 to 131,500, and their share of the total more than tripled. According to the Osborne Association, a New York-based non-profit, by 2030 more than 400,000 prisoners are expected to be aged 55 and older—one-third of the total prison population, and a 4,400% increase since 1980.
从1993年至2013年，美国的犯罪率从平均每千人52起下降到23起。同时，这在很大程度上是由于美国法院倾向于对罪犯判处长期徒刑。此举致使州立监狱中55岁以上的服刑人数从26300人增加到131500人，占服刑总人数的比例已增至三倍多。据纽约非盈利性组织奥斯本协会（Osborne Association）的数据显示，到2030年，预计将有40多万囚犯的年龄达到至少55岁，占监狱服刑总人数的1/3，同比1980年增长了4400%。

Incarcerating an older prisoner can cost up to five times as much as jailing a younger one. Prisoners are entitled to health care, but it is often expensively and inefficiently delivered. Mr Igartua says that getting a single steroid injection required two eight-hour journeys accompanied by two prison guards. Older prisoners tend to be sicker than younger ones, and people often enter prison having had drug problems, mental-health woes and little access to good health care on the outside.
关押一个年老囚犯的花费比关押一个年轻囚犯多达五倍，因为囚犯有权享有医疗保健，但往往费用高昂且效率低下。伊加图表示，仅一次类固醇注射就需要经历两段长达8小时的行程，并由两名狱警陪同。年老囚犯往往比年轻囚犯更易生病，而且经常入狱的人员通常会有吸毒问题、心理健康问题以及在狱外很难获得良好的医疗保健。

They also tend to be less likely to reoffend. Within three years, 43% of all released offenders have committed another crime. The rate for those between 50 and 64 is just 7%, and just 4% for those older than 65. People age out of crime—homicide and drug-arrest rates peak at 19—and criminal careers tend to be short. Sentences that keep people jailed into their dotage for crimes they committed in their youth drain the public purse with little public-safety benefit.
年老囚犯也不大会重蹈覆辙。刑满释放后的囚犯三年内有43%的人再次犯罪。50至64岁的老年释囚再犯率仅为7%，65岁以上的老年释囚再犯率仅为4%。凶杀者和吸毒者遭逮捕的人数在19岁形成高峰，而犯罪生涯往往是短暂的。年少犯罪而服刑至年老的判决方式耗尽了公共资金，而又无益公共安全。（译：林雅欣）

https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21743139-costs-are-large-benefits-slight-americas-geriatric-prison-population-growing

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