A newly proposed bill would give more elderly inmates serving long sentences and indeterminate (life) sentences an early chance at parole if it becomes law.
Senate Bill 224 (SB 224), the Elderly Parole Program, introduced in February by Senator Carol Liu, D-Glendale, and coauthored by Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is one more piece of legislation in a string of laws written to help reduce the size of California’s state prison population.
The proposed legislation says in part, “This bill would establish the Elderly Parole Program, for prisoners who are 50 years of age or older, who have served 15 years of their sentence.”
Legislation for the existing Elderly Parole Program also came in response to prison overcrowding. In a class action case, Coleman v. Brown, the federal court issued an order requiring the state to “implement an Elderly Parole Program so that prisoners who are 60 years of age or older and who have been incarcerated 25 years on their current sentence will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) to determine suitability for parole.”
On October 1, 2014, the BPH implemented the existing Elderly Parole Program.
Two years ago the CDCR reported that there were 27,580 inmates 50 years of age and older. At the same time the number of inmates who were 55 years of age and older was 14,856.
In the 15-year period between 1995 and 2010 the population of prisoners 55 years of age and older increased four times, Human Rights Watch reported. It estimated that by the year 2030 one-third of the prison population will be seniors.
“The bill (SB 224) would require the Board of Parole Hearings to consider whether a prisoner will qualify for the program when determining the prisoner’s next parole suitability hearing,” the proposed legislation says.
Those interested in this bill may contact their state assembly member and state senator at http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers,and http://senate.ca.gov/senators.
