My brother has been in prison for 46 years.

I am the oldest of five children and the only female. My eldest and youngest brothers are still alive and thriving. My third brother died and my fourth brother has been in prison longer than many people have been alive.

There are people who have known me my entire adult life who do not know that I have a fourth brother. His is a truly unfortunate story worthy of Charles Dickens, but this is not about guilt or innocence, it is about growing old in prison and its economic costs to you and me and the prison system, the personal cost to the aging prisoner and…