Here’s a grim story. As Inmates Age, A Prison Carpenter Builds More Coffins:
At Angola [state penitentiary], 97% of inmates now die in prison, up from about 80% a decade ago.
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The rise of lengthy, mandatory sentences and a nationwide tough-on-crime attitude has resulted in a booming prison population — 2.1 million last June, compared with 501,886 in 1980 — and an aging one. The number of inmates dying from natural causes rose to 2,700 in 2002 from 799 in 1982, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.Inmates often arrive at prison in the physical condition of someone 10 years to 15 years older because of the lack of health care they received while free, according to the American Correctional Association, a group of corrections officials. Chronic illnesses such as HIV, hepatitis and asthma are prevalent among prisoners, as are histories of alcohol and drug abuse, making them more likely to die earlier than normal.
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Angola gets society’s most serious offenders — child molesters, murderers and rapists. Two years ago, the prison stopped accepting anyone with a sentence of less than 50 years, meaning few will ever leave.
Here’s where it gets really grim though:
For years, inmates were buried in flimsy coffins that resembled shipping crates, each costing anywhere from $650 to $900. In June 1995, the prison was preparing to bury Joseph Siegel, a 69-year-old prisoner who had been convicted in 1971 for burglary and murdering a state senator.As the inmates lifted Mr. Siegel’s coffin to lay into the freshly dug grave, his body fell through the bottom of the casket. They carefully laid the coffin over the body and started to shovel dirt over the coffin. The lid then caved in.
That’s why one of the inmates now makes coffins for the prison.