Correspondence: Compiling facts for prisons’ Grey Owls

Hi, my name is Anthony. I am currently incarcerated at SCI Forest, a Pennsylvania state prison. I am 59 years old. I am serving a Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentence, and I am reaching out to you for assistance.

I have been here for nine years and being an elder with a sentence of death by incarceration (DBI), I’m in a unique position to see things from all sides and aspects. I am involved with an organization called “Hope For Change” (HFC), and I am the Treasurer sitting on the Executive Board. I am also the liaison for the Lifers and Long Termers Committee of the HFC Organization.

I am currently trying to compile up-to-date information regarding the elderly in prison, lifers and monetary incarceration costs for the elderly. I would appreciate it if you could send me any information along these lines to assist me in compiling this information. 

I am in the process of trying to start a new committee within the organization, which I plan to call the “Grey OWLS.” As Grey Owls, we would submit proposals to the Superintendent of this prison in an attempt to help our elderly population. As an example, we would request additional blankets, clothing items, gloves, long johns (thermal underwear) and different dietary/nutritional needs and concerns in regards to adequate food for the elderly since the DOC [Department of Corrections] food menu serves less than the nutritional requirements, is served cold and is unpleasant at times. 

We would discuss decades of inadequate health care and work with other organizations in Pennsylvania who advocate for elderly lifers (men and women 50 years or older) who plea for Redemption/Compassion and Geriatric Parole. We would also work on beginning an elderly mentoring program where elders, like myself, would mentor younger inmates and new commitments in the DOC. We would also seek to enlist the assistance of the younger inmates in escorting the elderly to meals and different appointments.

The simplest day-to-day activities for an elderly inmate can be extremely challenging, even something as simple as cleaning their cells. We would ask that younger, willing inmates be allowed to assist elderly inmates in this task as well as others. The Grey OWLS would advocate for everything that an elder would need in prison, as well as for their release from confinement.

If you would be able to send me dates, statistics, recidivism rates, monetary/medical costs of incarcerating elderly human beings, whatever you can do, we would be extremely grateful. I thank you very much for your help and time. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely Grateful,

Anthony Brown, Elderly Lifer

Grey Owls Founder

William “Cool Pop” Abbott

Grey Owls Co-Founder (Deceased)

Thank you, comrade, for sharing your organizing efforts on behalf of incarcerated elders. We were also very happy to receive several editions of the Grey Owls Committee Newsletter and encourage our readers at SCI Forest to seek out the newsletter for themselves and familiarize themselves with the work of The Lifers and Long Term Committee.

The publication includes guidance from elders for remaining healthy and fit behind enemy lines — how to monitor your systolic blood pressure, recommendations on how to maintain a positive attitude and care for your mental health and suggestions for how to use the commissary to supplement your diet. Each issue is accompanied by a bibliography of its sources.

The Grey Owls Committee Newsletter has also become a resource for the editors of Tear Down the Walls! as each edition contains informative research and statistics about the reality of Pennsylvania prison conditions, particularly regarding our incarcerated elders.

Red salute to the Grey Owls. Rest in power, Cool Pop.

Teddie Kelly, co-editor, Tear Down the Walls!

Below is an excerpt of a 2020 report from Anthony Brown.

Many lifers in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) have developed health problems over the years due to inadequate health care and poor nutrition. Elderly Pennsylvania lifers often find it difficult to remember conversations they have shared with fellow inmates.

… Dementia, poor eyesight and respiratory ailments are just some of the health problems elderly Pennsylvania lifers are experiencing. A healthy Pennsylvania lifer would build bridges to victim advocates if given a second chance, and this is why elderly Pennsylvania lifers should be considered for Redemption/Compassion Release. Making pleas for redemption/compassion are nothing more than a healing process between victims and lifers. It is proven that this process works. Pennsylvania, unlike other states, does not have any type of Redemption Project.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 130,000 of U.S. prisoners are elderly, a 400% increase between 1993 and 2013. Across the nation and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Correctional System, elderly prisoners experience a tortuous journey toward the end of their lives without any sort of redemption or compassionate release. 

While twenty-five percent of the PA DOC inmates are 50 years of age or older, 50% of the elderly Pennsylvania lifers are 50 and over — 53% of the female lifers and 43% of the male. The actual numbers of elderly Pennsylvania lifers are: 103 females and 2,139 males. On April 30, 2015, there were 162 lifers in Pennsylvania age 70 years and older, 25 of those were 80 years or older.

In analyzing the cost of a life sentence, age is a major factor. The total cost to confine all Pennsylvania inmates in fiscal year 2017 was $2.356 billion or $47,599 per inmate. In fiscal 2016, the total medication cost for those over age 50 was almost $2.1 million, the same amount spent on the entire under 50 inmate population.

The goal of all elderly Pennsylvania lifers is to educate and to raise the issue of the $3.6 million cost per lifer for the length of their incarceration to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. The main question for the taxpayers is very simple: Do you want to continue spending $2.3 billion annually to fund the PA DOC, particularly when the limited financial resources are needed elsewhere? 

Elderly Pennsylvania lifers and lifers in general in the PA DOC would like to educate everyone, to let them know that the system is broken and in great need of criminal justice reform. If this practice continues, the state and this country would be nothing more than a penal colony of the 15th Century.

Anthony Brown is serving a life sentence at State Correctional Facility Forest in Pennsylvania.