. >> my name is plutarcho hill and my number is 48713. i received that january the 16th, 1948. >> plutarcho has the oldest inmate number in the state, he is 86 years old - 66 of those years have been spent behind bars. he's escaped from prison 10 times. >> so you're as good getting out of prison as you are getting in? >> well, when my health was good. >>what are you serving for now? this sentence? >> it was a murder charge. >> how long ago? >> 1947. >> what's your sentence? >> life. >> and this is what life means for plutarcho now. a small section of a dormitory with a few black and white photographs of his family. he's outlived all of them. >> elderly people in prison. should they be given extra consideration for release? >> well, yeah. yeah, i do. >> can you explain why? >> because they're harmless. >> plutarcho's not alone. in fact he's part of a growing american trend. in the last decade the number of prisoners aged 55 and over has grown by an astonishing 75 percent, partly because longer sentences began to be handed out in the 1970's