# In prison, what happens to the lifers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 2, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131 "2003-09-02T14:02:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131/1 "2003-09-02T14:02:03Z")

</div>

I’m no expert on prisons, but whenever I see some program on prisons, I don’t see lots and lots of elderly prisoners.

Is it that they’re there, just in small enough numbers that I don’t notice them? Or is it that once a prisoner gets into his, oh, mid-70s for example, that the sentence gets commuted or something?

IOW, do lifers typically serve “life?”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131/2 "2003-09-02T14:32:59Z")

</div>

According to the following article, 6% of prisoners are over 55. The percentage is expected to grow. Older prisoners cost the state more, and, no, it’s not standard to release a prisoner after a certain age. Sometimes the state will commute a sentence when a prisoner is close to death and has a family that he wishes to see, but often a prisoner who’s been in prison for many years has no relatives remaining who want to see him. And why would such a prisoner want to leave a prison where he’s got at least minimal health care to the outside world where he has nothing, including health care?:

[http://www.prisonersofage.com/Pages/Reviewssfexa.html](http://www.prisonersofage.com/Pages/Reviewssfexa.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131/3 "2003-09-02T14:34:52Z")

</div>

Old lifers are pretty darn boring to watch. They are rarely involved in “hot” stories and certainly aren’t hard-bodied enough to have characters representing them in series like “Oz”. In other words, they’re dull.

Some lifers do get parole. Others get commutation. Some die in prison. If nobody comes to claim the body, they get buried in the prison’s cemetary.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131/4 "2003-09-02T16:39:03Z")

</div>

A good story involving long-term people is _The Shawshank Redemption_. Remembering that it’s a novellette/film is important if you’re looking for “true life,” but it’s otherwise entertaining.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-prison-what-happens-to-the-lifers/199131/5 "2003-09-02T20:32:19Z")

</div>

The folks in charge do make an effort to move old and infirm men away from the general population.

There may be state and federal guidelines about this.

(I have no information about this happening in women’s prisons. The women’s units I’ve seen have all ages together.)