Many elderly and frail prisoners who meet the new California parole criteria are ready for release.
“The program’s details were released publicly for the first time at a meeting of the Board of Parole Hearings. They were ordered by a panel of federal judges earlier this year, as part of required steps the state must take to reduce prison crowding to acceptable levels,” Paige St. John of The LA Times recently wrote.
Inmates age 60 years or older, who have spent at least 25 years in prison, are eligible for release if they are not sentenced to death or serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. “Those hearings are to begin in October,” according to a board executive.
Additionally, inmates with health conditions requiring skilled nursing care are eligible for removal to various health care or nursing facilities. “If they recover, they face a return trip to prison,” St. John reported
One board attorney told St. John, “Hearings under the new rules, which reflect an expansion of existing medical parole, are to begin by July 1.”
The state’s expanded health program will place approximately 100 inmates into health care facilities, the Finance Department estimated. Eighty-five prisoners who met the state’s elderly criteria are estimated to be released this year, St. John reported.
“In both cases, parole officials stressed that commissioners are to consider public safety risks before agreeing to release a prisoner,” St. John said.
The Life Support Alliance, a group that supports parole for inmates serving life sentences, was delighted by the recent publication. Supporter Gail Brown said “older inmates age out of violent behavior.”