Aging inmates straining prison systems

AP ^ | August 16th 2010 | NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

[Dubya-M-Dees]

“...the bill should be sent to his family.”

Sounds good, but it’s not really practical is it? Besides, his family didn’t choose to put him in jail, the state did.

My dad was a WWII Vet.. lived in the ditches surviving on small rations, freezing in the fox holes in the winter of '44. He chased the Germans across the Rhine and Rohr rivers into Berlin, and gave up a portion of his youth fighting for our country. A country he loved. At around 70 he was diagnosed with COPD. By the time he was 75, he wasn't able to walk the 20 feet from his kitchen to his living room without being completely out of breath. We tried to get assistance for the purchase of a scooter such as a hover-round, but we never got any help. We ended up buying one ourselves for him. Why should some murderous bastard living in prison be treated so much better than my father, a man who truly deserved it. As his son, I take it as my responsibility to take care of my dad. People are far too selfish now-a-days. I wonder how many elderly are abandoned by their children today to fend for themselves, or to be "taken care of" by our magnanimous state...