There’s so much more intentional deprivation of what the vulnerable among us need to be well, than decent people imagine: of the poor, the uneducated and also, the elderly. Intentional deprivation of some leads to the humongous prison population in the United States and, as a cousin recently pointed out on Facebook, seniors suffer from a type of forced incarceration too. Tucked out of public sight in nursing homes where they, according to Laura, “have cold meals, lights off at 7pm, two showers a week, live in (rooms smaller than some prison cells) and pay rent at $4,000 a month!”. The cost for both prison and nursing home housing is unconscionably high and in some cases the service delivery is dismal too, because these facilities are increasingly, privately owned. That means investors are concerned more about profiting from owning these places, than they are about the welfare of the residents inhabiting them. In the case of seniors, oversight is also an issue.
Seniors’ rights aren’t protected the way prisoners’ rights are, whose advocates are family, church and community members concerned with their wellbeing. I agree that so much should be done to ensure that seniors are treated well and live comfortably, but I’m asking myself, who are the advocates going to be for senior citizens in nursing homes? Many do not have living family members actively concerned with their welfare, and their friends and congregation members may be as superannuated as they are, or no longer alive. Who’s available to take a stand on seniors’ behalf against the greedy corporate nursing home owners depriving them of services and comforts because it’s cheaper and more profitable than providing comfort and enjoyment?
When problems are defined and recognized, they can be addressed. The victimization of our senior population by a predatory elder care industry may not yet be well understood, but Attorney Michelle Alexander in her book Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness:THE NEW JIM CROW, helps us understand intentional prison disenfranchisement pretty well. Here’s a lecture she delivered on the topic.
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