Age of 50 or over, we have about 3700 now, thats grown almost 200 in the last decade. And projections are were going to continue to grow at about 45 a year. Because of enhancements to punishments, tough on crime, 85 laws that require you to serve 85 before youre even eligible of parole and then the advent of life without parole. My name is pertorical hill. And my number is 48713. I received that january the 16th, 1948. Pertalco has the oldest nment number in the state inmate number in the state. 66 years have been spent behind bars. He escaped six times. Youre as good at escaping from prison as you are in . Whenever my health was good. I cant remember the name of the little town where that uhaul trailer was what are you serving now, sentence . This sentence is a murder charge. How long ago . 1947. Whats your sentence . Life. Which one are you . Im up there. I come and this is what life met for pertarco now. A small section of a dormitory whicwith a few black and white photographs of his family. Hes outlived all of them. Extra consideration for release . Yes i do. Can you explain why . Because theyre harmless. Plutarco is not alone. In fact hes part of a growing american trend. In the last decade the number of prisoners has grown an astonishing 75 . The u. S. Took a tough on crime approach. And the older a prisoner is the bigger financial drain they pose. An older inmate play cost about 75,000 a year to lock up. Two to three times more than younger inmates. Older inmates suffer functional diseases, major diseases and mental illness. My world wears white in a day of black fleet. It holds bitter cold with its pal e purple teeth. Wanting more more more. Correctional center is oklahomas largest womens prison. This state incarcerates more women, reading or writing poetry than they are but theyre also convicted killers. Smile with your broken teeth mourning in the morning to nothing but death, you bet well reap and it wonting wedding white. I dont have a choice of what i eat. It would either kill or be killed. And now, a techknow minute. Something is killing americas bee population. What happened to this bee . Scientists arent sure what but beekeepers are reporting dramatic declines of 65 this year. The losses are astronomical that could have a devistating impact on agriculture. But a collection of resarchers are working hard to build a better bee. Im just gonna roll my fingers forward. Using Artificial Insemination to make strains of bee populations from across the globe, im trying to enhance what Mother Nature does the hope is to find a strain thats resistant to whatever is killing americas bees. Nobody in the world was able to freeze honey bee semen. For mor imformation on this and other techknow stories, visit our website at aljazeera. Com techknow dont miss techknow sundays 7 30et 4 30pt on Al Jazeera America and now a techknow minute. Its the ultimate race againt time. Doctors preforming heart transplant surgery in just 6 hours before a donor organ is damaged by ice, used to keep it cold during transit. But this device could. Change all that. Its called the organ care system, or. Heart in a box. It works by hooking up the heart to this machine. It pumps it full of warm blood, and a formula containing a proprietary mix of nutrients. Its warm, its warm, its beating. Its functioning, its just functioning as if its in your body. Doctors are also seeing promising results, using the organ care system on other organs, such as lungs. For more information on this, and other techknow stories. Visit our website at aljazeera. Com techknow dont miss techknow, sundays 7 30et 4 30pt on Al Jazeera AmericaFishkill Correctional Facility 70 miles north of new york city. To address the needs of its growing elderly prison population, new york built the nations first unit for the cognitively impaired. All these inmates have dementia. Their average age is 63 and many have alzheimers. Weve joined the founder and director of the unit, dr. Edward sottile, as he does his rounds. Fault lines is the First Television crew to be allowed here. [knock, knock, knock] mr. Turner. How are you . How are you feeling today . Today dr. Sottile checks on 59 year old chris turner. Serving a sentence for kidnapping and sodomy, hes also being punished for punching a nurse in the stomach. How are you doing with your arm motions . They seem to be a lot better now that you mention it. He came to us a couple of years ago with huntingtons chorea. That is a genetic disease that is gradually progressive and the patient has these movements that are purposelesshe cant control his movement. And eventually, what happens is it affects his ability to swallow. And eventually, they deteriorate, they lose weight and they die. This unit houses 30 beds and its almost always full. Mr. Johnson. Yes sir. How are you . Fine,thank you sir. How are you doing today . In the outside world, inmate Robert Johnson was a heavy gambler. Donald trump flew me all over the world hong kong and all over. You have to be kidding oh yeah. Im not kidding you. I his private jet. Until his wife cancelled his credit line at the casinos. Cause i promised her before i left the house, i would not use my credit line. I keep my word. But she didnt tell me i couldnt say i had a credit line. Ok now he claims he doesnt remember shooting at her with a rifle. Which raises the question, if prisoners with dementia cant remember the crimes they committed, how can they be rehabilitated . I had the same question. I cant control that. But not being able to control that, the best that we can do, as physicians and Healthcare Providers is to manage them in a way that is humane, thats compassionate, and the only way we can do that is by understanding their disease. As the prison population in america continues to age, other states will undoubtedly need units like this one to look after inmates with deteriorating mental capacity, but at 100 thousand dollars a year per inmate, where is the money going to come from . At present, no one seems to have the answer. Three years ago larry white was released from prison. Hed served a 32 year sentence for Armed Robbery and felony homicide. Hes 72 now. After so long inside, he has struggled to adapt to life on the outside. I would get on the subway and i was so selfconscious that i would break out into a cold sweat. Because it seemed to me that everybody knew that this guy had just come out of prison, that everyone was staring at me. And i would say what the bleep are you looking at . What the bleep is the matter . laughs . You cant do that. While lockedup larry built social networks and programs for prisoners trying to change the system from within. So i organized other prisoners first of all to change the conditions and to oppose how the guards and administration was treating us. That became a movement and it spread from one prison to another. Now, larry is trying to continue that same work from the other side of the fence advocating for compassionate release for older inmates. Im a firm believe that anybody can change. Now it may take some people longer than others to change. Some people will die before they do change. Its just that they didnt live long enough to change. But my whole life now is geared to going back to help those i left behind. Thats my life. I would feel that loss if i couldnt go back at all. Its to the point that even though youre out, its still in you. Yeah, i miss it. I do. I dont tell people that, but i do. On august 20th, Al Jazeera America introduced and now a techknow minute. Its the ultimate race againt time. Doctors preforming heart transplant surgery in just 6 hours before a donor organ is damaged by ice, used to keep it cold during transit. But this device could. Change all that. Its called the organ care system, or. Heart in a box. It works by hooking up the heart to this machine. It pumps it full of warm blood, and a formula containing a proprietary mix of nutrients. Its warm, its warm, its beating. Its functioning, its just functioning as if its in your body. Doctors are also seeing promising results, using the organ care system on other organs, such as lungs. For more information on this, and other techknow stories. Visit our website at aljazeera. Com techknow dont miss techknow, sundays 7 30et 4 30pt on Al Jazeera America unlike larry, many prisoners wont make it out alive. Thousands of inmates will die behind bars in the United States this year. Lewis young is afraid that he may be one of them. Diagnosed with kidney cancer, lewis awaits his sentence in the hospital wing of philadelphias detention center. To have cancer, to be in jail, and not to be around your family. You know, its real scary. In lieu of family, lewis has phyllis taylor. Shes a correctional chaplain and has developed the Hospice Program here to help comfort dying prisoners. My hope is that if its not possible to release the elders and to release the dying into society, that the prisons and jails become homelike. [praying] she popped out of the clear blue. Shes like an angel to me right. And i started getting my proper medication, you know, they started giving me morphine. Phyllis works with dozens of other dying patients across the state of pennsylvania. She believes everyone should be allowed to die with dignity. A lot of people would say, look they broke the law. They deserve to be there and if they die there, then thats the choices they made. And i would say back each person has value. And there was something redemptive in each person. That nobodys a throwaway person. This is my community. Im always going to be behind bars. Im always going to be there. How can i help at least one other person so my life has meaning . Well they call us ogs ogs. Original gangsters. [laughs] at 59 Kevin Bartley is a member of the lifers group at otisville correctional facility in new york. He is serving 15 years to life for his role in a murder during a Convenience Store robbery. We had a republican governor, that ran on crime and punishment and when he came in he said he didnt want no one with a Violent Crime to be released and that was the message he sent throughout the Parole Department and they took that very seriously. Kevin has earned privileges at the prison, he works freely in the storehouse bringing in goods from the outside world. Hes been told that he is a perfect candidate for release but hes been denied parole every time he has gone before the board, instead he keeps getting deuced. Two years or deuce is the max they can hold you. Ive been deuced 8 times. So im part of the 16 year over the minimum club. Whens your next one . My next one is in november 2011. Is that going to be your year . Thats going to be my year. Thats going to be my year. 31 years in the penitentiary and i will leave. Kevin has used his time inside to better himself. Hes received a masters degree in theology, learned sign language while working with deaf inmates. Keeping people incarcerated who are community ready. Ready to go out here and be an asset to the community. To me its crazy. Why dont you release us now while were still healthy and able to contribute . Dont wait until we lose a leg or an arm or our minds. So while a crisis that few seem willing to face expands to alarming proportions, kevin and thousands of other older inmates like him will continue to grow old behind bars. You have more people locked up per capita than anywhere else in the civilized world, how can you do that . And youre always crying about how much money it costs. Its not solving your problems. We have to treat these people as human beings. They are human beings. And they deserve compassion, dignity and respect. And if you treat these people with that, then i think youre doing the right thing. And i think thats the reason why were here. You know youre in a place where loneliness will kill you. Loneliness. Even though im in an institution with 500 other guys, im still lonely. Youre still lonely. Lonely inside. vo Al Jazeera America we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. The efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. vo we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. Thousands of riot Police Deployed across the capitol. vo we put all of our Global Resources behind every story. It is a scene of utter devastation. vo and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. Al jazeera america. Take a new look at news. This is Al Jazeera America, live from new york city. I am tony harris with a look at todays top stories contraceptives, healthcare and the supreme court. The latest challenge for the Affordable Care act. Also, what a u. S. Withdrawal might mean for the people of afghanistan a big, ugly winter storm is affecting holiday travelers. When the skies clear, get ready for the celestial show of the decade. The latest dispute over the president s healthcare law is going to the