In my most recent Prison Journalism Project op-ed, “Who should care for the elderly in prison?”, I outline the legislative changes necessary to achieve an acceptable level of safety for our country’s aging prison population.
I wrote the piece as a follow-up to the report I filed last year with my local Area Agency on Aging and the Idaho Commission on Aging: “He’s a 69-year-old, partially paralyzed, diabetic amputee. Prison staff say he’s faking. What say I split the (in)difference?”
Sources close to Kelly, the subject of both pieces, tell me that just prior to the op-ed being published, doctors amputated his second leg.
But in spite of now being reduced to one functional appendage, they say that he’s as ornery as ever, “making every day that we don’t hear from him a blessing.” Not exactly something you wanna hear from those surrounding our elderly as they wind down their final years.
Visit this link to identify and contact your Idaho district representatives. You may be surprised by how they welcome your request to read the op-ed and provide their plans for moving forward.