‘Like a nursing home’: The realities of Alaska’s aging inmate population

Sep. 23—GOOSE CREEK CORRECTIONAL CENTER — A man slumps in a chair in the infirmary, wearing gray sweatpants and covered with a thin blanket. He looks half-asleep. His mouth is open, and his skin has a pallor. He is among the oldest people in prison anywhere in Alaska. He's only halfway through his sentence. Alaska's inmates are aging: Over the past decade, the number of people 55 and older …