99-year-old sex offender set to leave prison early

The Utah State Prison's oldest inmate will leave prison in February to serve the rest of his sentence on home confinement.

Bert Jackson, 99, has served three years of a possible 15-year sentence for sexually abusing at least two children.

"I don't want you to die in prison," Board of Pardons and Parole member Keith Hamilton told Jackson during a Jan. 3 parole hearing.

And he probably won't. The Board of Pardons decided Thursday that Jackson will be paroled Feb. 7 to live with his son and daughter-in-law.

The parole hearing lasted nearly twice as long as it otherwise would have because Hamilton, speaking in a raised voice, had to repeat nearly all of his questions to the hard-of-hearing Jackson.

"You're in pretty good health for a 99-year-old man," Hamilton said. "We don't want you touching anybody anymore, OK?"

Jackson was sent to prison in November 2002 at age 96 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of child sex abuse stemming from incidents in 1995 and 1996 in Lewiston, Cache County.

He was charged with the second-degree felony crimes in 2000 in 1st District Court and pleaded guilty after months of competency evaluations. He was sentenced to serve two one-to-15-year sentences concurrently in the prison, according to court records.

"Most people don't come to prison at age 96," Hamilton said.

Now, Jackson may be Utah's oldest inmate ever, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections.

If he had been required to serve all 15 years at the Utah State Prison in Draper, he would have been 111 upon his release.

But Jackson will likely live the rest of his life outside of the prison's concrete and steel.

Hamilton, during the hearing, told Jackson that a violation of his parole will land him back in prison.

According to Jackson's parole agreement, Jackson may not leave his son's home except for a doctor's visit or for a medical emergency. He will wear an ankle monitor so an Adult Probation and Parole agent can check on him. Parole lasts at least three years.

He may not contact his victims and can't have contact with anyone under age 18.