VOA慢速英语2012 THIS IS AMERICA - Longer Prison Terms Mean More Seniors Behind Bars

THIS IS AMERICA - Longer Prison Terms Mean More Seniors Behind Bars

 

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I'm Christopher Cruise. Last week on our program we talked about community policing. We looked at some of the thinking behind modern methods of law enforcement. Today we move from crime to punishment. We talk about the issue of older prisoners. Recently a human rights group expressed concerns about meeting their needs behind bars.

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FAITH LAPIDUS: In nineteen forty-six, William George Heirens was charged with murder and attempted murder. He was eighteen years old. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in state prison in Illinois.

William Heirens has spent sixty-six years behind bars. Yet even at the age of eighty-four he is not the nation's oldest prisoner. The federal Bureau of Prisons says one of its prisoners is ninety-five.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Older prisoners are a growing group in the United States, and not because of a crime wave by senior citizens. In fact, crime rates nationwide have been dropping for some time. The main reason there are more older prisoners is because more people serving long sentences are getting older just like other Americans.

Prisoners at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama, return to their cells 

The nineteen eighties and nineties brought a number of new programs, policies and laws to fight crime -- like the war on drugs. In many cases these new policies meant longer prison sentences. They also meant fewer chances for prisoners to gain early release on parole. At the same time, more people were receiving life sentences without even a chance for parole.

Another change involved new laws that borrowed a term from baseball: "three strikes and you're out." The federal government along with California and other states passed laws requiring, in some cases, a life sentence for a third offense¹.

FAITH LAPIDUS: John Paitakes served as a parole board member. He helped decide whether prisoners should be released early. Today Mr. Paitakes is a criminal justice professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey². He says prison populations grew over the last generation especially because of drug laws.

JOHN PAITAKES: "In the seventies there were a lot of mandatory³ drug laws -- if you possess drugs within a certain feet of a school, a certain amount, if you sold to juveniles⁴. They put some very lengthy⁵ sentences on drug distributers and drug users. So that tended to fill up a lot of the prisons over the years."

Guards patrol a cellblock at the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction in 2009 

As of January of this year, just over eight percent of all federal prisoners were at least fifty-six years old. The Bureau of Prisons says it was responsible for eight thousand men and women between the ages of fifty-six and sixty. There were almost five thousand prisoners age sixty-one to sixty-five. And there were more than three thousand prisoners age sixty-six and older.

Other reports show that in two thousand nine, thirteen percent of all people in state prisons were over the age of fifty.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A prison may not necessarily be well prepared to handle the needs of an aging population.

As people get older, they may not be able to walk as far, or stand as long or hear as well as they once did. Their dietary and medical needs can change.

In a recent report Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about the care and treatment of older prisoners. Jamie Fellner is with Human Rights Watch.

JAMIE FELLNER: "First of all, the architecture, the physical buildings of prisons aren't designed for older people. Many older people have trouble walking, they have trouble going up stairs, they may be in wheelchairs or be pulling portable oxygen. And prisons have many stairs, or they do not have wheelchair accessible bathrooms. Prisons in the United States tend to be overcrowded and people have upper and lower bunks⁷. It is hard for an eighty-year-old to climb up to an upper bunk⁶."

Ms. Fellner has talked to aging prisoners about their concerns.

JAMIE FELLNER: "Well, one of the concerns of many of the older prisoners I spoke⁸ to was that they would like to get home. They'd like to be able to die with their families if they have families. So that is a big concern."

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Access Board is a federal agency that works to support the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities. Starting in nineteen ninety-eight the agency helped bring new legal requirements for prisons. These included requirements like putting handrails along walls to assist people in walking, and making buildings easier to enter and exit.

But making older structures more accessible to the disabled can be difficult and costly⁹.

Some prisons in the United States are operated under state or federal contracts by private companies like Corrections Corporation of America. CCA describes itself as "the fifth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and three states." The company houses about seventy-five thousand prisoners in more than sixty facilities, most of them owned by CCA itself.

A company official says CCA employees are trained to be "attentive¹⁰ to the individual needs of all inmates¹¹, including the elderly, and to work closely with the medical staff."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Most prisons put older prisoners together with younger ones. But younger prisoners are more likely to act violently to try to prove their strength to others. This behavior can affect the lives and safety of older prisoners. Human Rights Watch says older prisoners should not be required to live with younger ones who might be a threat.

Some detention¹² centers are structured to house older or disabled prisoners separately, but not every state has them.

Ronald Aday is a sociologist¹³ at Middle Tennessee State University. He studies aging and has interviewed more than eight hundred elderly prisoners.

RONALD ADAY: "A variety of concerns, I think, that they have would be looking at their deterioration¹⁴ of health within a prison setting, and getting access to health care. Another concern, of course, is their vulnerability, especially if they're integrated with the mainstream¹⁵ prison population. And many of them are oftentimes exploited, physically¹⁶ and psychologically in terms of taking things from them. So they are kind of at risk in terms of those factors."

FAITH LAPIDUS: Professor Aday says older prisoners have to deal with aging in a difficult environment, especially one that does not necessarily meet their needs. And those needs can include treatment for mental health problems.

RONALD ADAY: "Many of the older inmates do have a lot of mental health issues -- alcohol, drug related, but also just depression and anxiety disorders¹⁷. We have a lot of our veterans that have come back from different wars, Vietnam and others, that are older now. And they're, many of them, some of those might have been living in streets or they have post-traumatic stress issues. And a lot of those also end up incarcerated¹⁸."

In the past, many of these people might have been sent to a mental hospital. But American society moved away from the idea of keeping people in such institutions. This was replaced with the idea of trying to treat them with medication in the community.

But as Professor Aday points out, today prisons seem in some cases to have taken the place of mental hospitals.

RONALD ADAY: "Because we have deinstitutionalized a lot of people from the mental health system, but in many cases the prison system has actually become responsible sometimes for taking care of some of those individuals."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Taking care of older prisoners can be costly. But releasing them early might require changes in state and federal sentencing laws. California and other states are looking for ways to ease overcrowding and reduce their prison populations.

Criminal justice professor John Paitakes says there is growing interest in other sentencing choices besides jail or prison.

JOHN PAITAKES: "In other words, somebody does a crime, what other alternatives do we have other than prison? We have some very good electronic monitoring, where either with a bracelet¹⁹ or an anklet we can monitor your geographic²⁰ area. So instead of going into jail or prison, you can work your job during the day and after that we expect you to be home for the rest of the evening. You're on the bracelet and, you know, you're confined to your home. But it's not the same as jail and it's certainly a less expensive alternative."

Professor Paitakes says programs like these are generally used for non-violent offenders²¹. So a drug abuser, for example, might be sentenced to a drug treatment center.

JOHN PAITAKES: "In-patient drug programs. There's boot camps that they're using. There's short term facilities and halfway²² houses. So we do have other alternatives. I think you'll see nationally a lot more emphasis on that and keeping the prisons for more dangerous people."

FAITH LAPIDUS: Human Rights Watch says officials should look at how to reduce the population of elderly prisoners without risking the safety of the general public.

The group also suggests special training for those responsible for older prisoners. It says one of the greatest difficulties for corrections officers in these situations is learning to practice patience. Human Rights Watch says those who work with older prisoners are the ones who can best decide what needs to change to better care for them.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Our program was written by Kim Varzi and produced by Brianna Blake. You can read and listen to our program about community policing, and the influence of researcher James Q. Wilson, at www.voanews.cn. You can also find lots of other reading and listening materials for people learning English.

FAITH LAPIDUS: I'm Faith Lapidus with Christopher Cruise. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

4 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

5 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

6 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

7 bunks   

n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话

参考例句：

• These bunks can tip up and fold back into the wall. 这些铺位可以翻起来并折叠收入墙内。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last they turned into their little bunks in the cart. 最后他们都钻进车内的小卧铺里。 来自辞典例句

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

11 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

13 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

14 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

17 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

19 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

20 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

21 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。

22 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。