We have this unit called the MIU (Mature Inmate Unit), where all 50-and-older inmates were ordered to move. It’s supposed to be a benefit, but no incentives were ever given. is a complete disaster. Seventy- and 80-year-olds are forced to carry their chairs up and down the concrete stairs when they need to use the restroom, etc. If they don’t, staff will take their chair. It is a constant routine of harassment and abuse. (Like at a USP, everyone is given a rigid plastic chair to sit in. Prisoners on the lower tier can take their chair to the TV area while they watch. People on the upper tier are not allowed to watch TV from there. So, they either have to stand to watch TV or carry their chair down the stairs to the lower tier.)
BUT…if leave your chair unattended for any reason, staff will take it. Older men have a tendency to need to go to the bathroom more often than younger men, but there is no accommodation if they live on the upper tier. They have to haul their chair up and down the concrete and steel stairway each time they want to get a drink of water, get something from their cell or use the restroom. This week, we just had another death, of a 44-year-old man in otherwise good health. This place is a death trap.