Word: bedarka
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Picture an 86-year-old man clutching a walker as he shuffles down a prison hallway. Not exactly the usual image of a dangerous killer locked up for the good of society. Chances are, it's not what the judge envisioned either when he sentenced John Bedarka, a Pennsylvania coal miner, to life without parole for shooting his wife's lover to death 30 years ago. But Bedarka is still in prison at Laurel Highlands correctional institution in Somerset, Pa., in frail health, severely depressed and a threat...
...number of elderly men in Bedarka's situation is increasing dramatically. With three-strikes laws becoming common and some states abolishing parole altogether, the ranks of these aging, sickly inmates will only keep growing--as will the cost to taxpayers. Because elderly people require more medical care, it costs nearly three times as much to incarcerate them, or about $65,000 a year per inmate. "Society has to take a real good look at this aging prison population and what's going to happen to them," says Fredric Rosemeyer, superintendent of Laurel Highlands, one of a new crop of prisons...
About 70 miles east of Pittsburgh, Laurel Highlands is a prison and a nursing home rolled into one for people like Bedarka. For the sickest of the sick, there is the 85-bed long-term-care unit, staffed by 48 nurses around the clock. In a dayroom, half a dozen elderly men gaze at an ancient TV, mesmerized by Judge Judy. Amputees pushing manually operated wheelchairs queue up at the medication counter, where a cheery nurse dispenses pills for diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Nearby, a delusional man rants that State Road 31 is a barrier protecting him from...
...distant past, a surprising 45% of inmates 50 and older have been arrested within the past two years. These older felons, moreover, tend to be locked up for more serious crimes, such as rape, murder and child molestation. Yet they're sharing prison space with people like Bedarka, who can't remember what he ate for breakfast but can clearly recall his defense against that murder charge three decades ago. "He threatened me," Bedarka says. "It was either him or me." Now, it's just...
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