‘We’re working as collaboratively as we can, and I want to get the job done’
The L.A. Times reported that about 1,300 elderly prisoners would meet the conditions for release under a new special parole outlined by Gov. Jerry Brown.
According to the article, these inmates qualify because “they are over 60, and have served more than 25 years in prison, but are not sentenced to life without parole.”
Brown also wants to expand parole eligibility for inmates who are sick or mentally impaired, but he emphasized that all “those prisoners would still need to pass muster with state parole commissioners.”
The governor said such parole hearings would likely begin at the two state prisons that house women.
Brown offered these plans in response to the latest three-judge panel’s court order to reduce California’s prison population. “We’re working as collaboratively as we can, and I want to get the job done,” he said.
According to the L.A. Times, “The court appointed agency that oversees prison medical care calculated that 900 prisoners meet new parole criteria the state drafted to expand medical parole.”
The health care office estimated 150 individuals, including inmates dying of cancer, could be considered for release within six months.
Brown also plans to achieve further prisoner reductions by increasing “good behavior” time: allowing inmates to collect up to one day off for every two days served with good behavior. “Currently they are limited to earning one day off for every four days served,” the Times said, estimating that 37 prisoners who have accrued additional time off for good behavior could be freed within months.
