The Crisis of Elderly Care in California Prisons: Examining Healthcare Services for Older Incarcerated Individuals

California's prison population is aging rapidly, with the number of incarcerated individuals aged 55 and older nationwide in state and federal prisons "growing 24% compared to an average increase of 15% across all other age groups" (Widra, 2023).Despite this, less than 5% of U.S. prisons provide hospice care, highlighting the neglect of end-of-life and aging incarcerated individuals' healthcare needs (Humane Prison Hospice, 2024).The difference between the number of older incarcerated individuals compared to the resources they may need near the end of their lives highlights a critical gap in the healthcare system for aging incarcerated individuals.As the population of older incarcerated individuals grows, so does the urgency to examine how well California's prisons, managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), address these challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.In my research, I raise the question, what are the health needs and challenges of older incarcerated individuals in California prisons?Specifically, how does the physical healthcare of older incarcerated individuals, 55 and older, differ depending on each California state prison managed by the CDCR during COVID-19, and are older incarcerated individuals provided adequate and appropriate healthcare services?To attempt to answer this question, I analyzed available data from medical inspection reports from 2019 -2024 made by the Office of the Inspector General on 32 of the CDCR-run California state prisons.I isolated the data from these