Jail for those who abandon senior citizens.

A state lawmaker introduced a bill that, if enacted, would imprison for up to three years those who abandon their senior parents.

State Assemblyman Francisco Barraza, a Mexicali member of the Baja California Party, introduced a bill to amend the Penal Code to punish children who abandon their 60-year-old parents and older. The proposal includes between one and three years in prison and losing inheritance rights for leaving their ill or disabled parents unattended.

The bill also includes provisions to allow the Comprehensive Family Development Department, or DIF in Spanish, to file lawsuits against violators.

“As of today the Penal Code sets as a crime children or ill people abandonment, but does not include senior citizens,” Barraza said. “Without a doubt the abandonment of a senior citizen remains unpunished.”

He went on to say that in many cases the elderly are victims of abuse and violations to their human rights for decades.

Even though the state and the country have worked on the issue, senior citizens are still on risk of suffering the negative consequences of prejudiced perceptions, whose effects lead to unemployment, abandonment, and the denial of opportunities and fundamental rights, he said.

The state is home to 269,000 residents of 60 and older, who represent 8 percent of the state’s population.

Official projections estimate an increasing number of senior citizens living in Baja California in the next years, who will demand more benefits from state agencies.

According to statistics from the National Council of Social Development Policy Evaluation, 43 percent of Mexican senior citizens are poor and lack the income to purchase goods and services to cover their personal expenses.