Our aging, sick and dying prison population is presenting a fiscal crisis and worsening. What can states do about it?

A report by the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst's Office says elderly inmates cost two to three times more to care for than do younger ones. It notes that the National Center of Institutions and Alternatives estimates incarceration costs for an elderly inmate are $69,000 a year, compared with a national average of $22,000 for all inmates.

Some states are adopting early release for aging prisoners. We hope the practice spreads:

When considering dangerous, violent and predatory inmates, one does not usually envision an elderly man hobbling down a prison corridor with a cane or walker," says a new institute report for the Justice Department's National Institute of Corrections.

"However, in reality, some of the most dangerous and/or persistent criminals sentenced to life in prison without parole 30 years ago are now old, debilitated, frail, chronically ill, depressed and no longer considered a threat to society or the institution," the report says.

The Warden at Angola, Louisiana's harshest prison, takes it one step further:

In a state where a "life sentence" means just that, officials at Angola are determined to provide "death with dignity" for inmates. There is a hospice for the terminally ill. No one dies alone. Since 1998, a glass-enclosed hearse, made by prisoners and drawn by two Percheron horses, carries bodies to the prison cemetery in handmade coffins. Inmates walk behind, singing Amazing Grace as they go.