People shouldn’t be released from prison just because they are old

Wow! Even I was only 6-years-old when Arthur Biddle was incarcerated in 1954 (“Rodricks: Why is Maryland keeping an 85-year-old man and four other octogenarians in prison?” Nov. 5). However, in that period, people were regularly and routinely executed for first-degree murder. Yet, Mr. Biddle was sentenced to serve out the rest of his natural life for that crime, in lieu of the gas chamber. Now, some folks are clamoring for Mr. Biddle (and other similar cases) to be released. They cite costs of incarceration of $54,000 to keep an elderly prisoner like Mr. Biddle locked up.

My main question would be: released to what? All of his family is probably gone and he almost surely has nothing to go back to. The cost of assisted living or hospice care for the indigent would probably make the incarceration cost seem a mere pittance. Especially if we really did a cost benefit analysis. Whowould fund him away from assisted living and hospice care if he was still sturdy enough to physically function? He probably wouldn’t get much from Social Security. Who would hire him? His quality of life would probably be significantly diminished if he were to be released. After all of that time in prison, Mr. Biddle and many others like him have become completely institutionally dependent. This is mainly due to the fact that their decision-making skills have atrophied. They are not allowed to make decisions there. Their only stress living in the joint is survival. That population would have no working set of skills to transition back into society and to even be remotely functional.

I believe that releasing individuals like Mr. Biddle back into society today would be “cruel and unusual punishment.” When Mr. Biddle was locked up, ballpoint pens were still not in use. I can remember pencils and fountain pens were what I first cut my teeth on in school in 1954. I’ve been working around people trying to come out of the criminal justice system for my entire 25-year career. Many of the folks I have encountered in my work as a reentry counselor have permitted me to witness their collective institutional dependence firsthand. These folks mostly struggled with the stress of everyday life and decision-making, and they weren’t away for any more than a few years (less than 10).

Would you think that Maryland holds people in prison too long if one of your loved ones was a victim? People are getting out of prison in less than two years for attempted murder these days. Parole and probation agents are now basically unable to order their probationers back to jail. Society is currently doing everything in its power to keep the jails empty of people that truly belong there. Is that justice reinvestment or madness? This criminal justice system is becoming progressively dangerous every day because, I believe, it is totally out of balance.

Ironic, isn’t it? Eighty year olds stay locked up and 30 year olds are allowed to run wild on probation with “diplomatic immunity” to rob, rip and run. Now, we are afraid we are locking them up too long? All of those studies, are to me, hogwash.

George Hammerbacher, Baltimore

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