Post-event follow-up: Watch a video of the April 24th event

Ballooning state and federal incarceration is problematic and costly for many reasons, but one ever-increasing complication is the fact that our prison population is aging. According to the Census Bureau, from 1991 to 2021, the percentage of people 55 years or older in our nation’s prisons swelled from 3% to 15%. And more than 30% of people serving life sentences are at least 55 years old. Aging in prison can be dangerous. It is certainly costly. And data show that it cannot be justified by Alison Guernsey the need to protect the public. This talk will discuss the demographics of the current prison population, the realities of what it means to grow old in prison, and present some alternatives to continuing with the current carceral state of affairs.

Alison Guernsey is a clinical professor of law in the UI College of Law. She teaches in and directs the college’s Federal Criminal Defense Clinic. Under her supervision, law students represent indigent individuals charged with federal offenses in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa. Students also practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Sixth Circuits. Alison received a BA from the University of Michigan (2001) and JD from the UI College of Law (2008).

Meeting Info: 2520-D University Capitol Center (UCC) and via Zoom. The link will be sent out on April 22. Lost link?  Contact Ed Dove, edwin-dove@uiowa.edu.