Does jailing old people make sense?

On principle, prisoners should all be treated the same way. But, it may be worth questioning whether it makes sense to continue to keep people behind bars once they're old and have already served long sentences. Given studies show that these prisoners are less likely to commit crimes once they're released than young people who've never been incarcerated, why should prisons bare the medical expenses associated with aging? Prisons aren't designed to act as nursing homes.

Especially for prisoners over 65 with good behavior, parole boards should give greater weight to how individuals have grown in prison than to how they ended up there in the first place. While I understand the hesitancy to grant parole to violent offenders, our correctional system should consider being more pragmatic, particularly when it can save taxpayer money without introducing meaningful public safety risk.