Life Outside: Rosalie Comes Home

In collaboration with the Media and Idea Lab (MIL) at Columbia University, we are excited to launch “Life Outside: Rosalie Comes Home,” the first in a series of videos featuring formerly incarcerated people over the age of 60 who are released from prison after having served lengthy sentences.

The series accompanies the Center’s recently published whitepaper, “Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety.” According to the report, more than 17% of New York State’s prison population is age 50 or older. The number of incarcerated individuals of age 50 and older increased 81% over the past decade. From
2007 to 2010, the number of state and federal prisoners over 65 grew 94 times faster than the general population nationwide.

As of 2012, there were almost 125,000 prisoners aged 55 and older in the United States. This pace is projected to continue escalating fast for the next decades: By 2030, more than 400,000 older people are expected to be in prison, a staggering 4,400 percent increase from 1981 when there were only 8,853.