Medical & Geriatric Parole
What’s the problem?
Many of the people in prison who died during COVID were elderly and especially vulnerable due to chronic preexisting medical conditions. MAJR regularly receives letters from older men and women who are afraid of dying from COVID and other diseases in prison.
Not surprisingly, healthcare costs greatly increase for older prisoners. The Justice Policy Institute estimates that Maryland imprisons approximately 3,000 people over age 50, and nearly 1,000 who are 60 or older. JPI also reports that people over 60 are paroled at a rate of only 28 percent. This contradicts everything we know about trends in criminal offending in older people. People age out of crime, and after 50 have very low recidivism rates.
A fiscal analysis concluded that continued confinement of people in this age group for an additional 18 years (based on the expected period of incarceration) would amount to nearly $1 million per person, or $53,000 a year. Compare this to the $6,000 a year needed to provide the kind of intensive reentry support that has proven successful in reintegrating returning citizens back into the community.
A solution
Senate Bill 181/House Bill 190 would require the Maryland Parole Commission to consider a person’s age when determining whether to grant or deny parole. Geriatric parole would apply to individuals who are at least 60 years old, have served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed, and are serving a parole-eligible sentence. These people have long ago aged out of crime, and they are almost invariably very different people than they were when they committed their crimes.
Now is the time for Maryland to treat individuals who are aging and dying behind our prison walls more humanely. This bill broadens who can request medical parole for an individual and outlines the required documentation, assessment, and decision-making process.
The bill also establishes a process for the Maryland Parole Commission to evaluate a request for medical parole, which includes requesting a meeting between the individual and the Commission if the individual is housed in an infirmary, is currently hospitalized, or has been frequently hospitalized over the previous six months. This allows individuals with debilitating or incapacWitating conditions the opportunity for more meaningful medical parole consideration.
What are other jurisdictions doing?
Nearly every state has a policy allowing for people with certain serious medical conditions to be eligible for parole. In 45 states, the authority for the release of these individuals has been established by statute or state regulation. In addition, at least 17 states have geriatric parole laws. In the federal system, a person may apply for geriatric parole pursuant to the US Parole Commission Rules and Procedures, Title 28, CFR, Section 2.78. These laws allow for consideration for release when a person reaches a specified age. At least 16 states have established both medical and geriatric parole legislatively. It is time for Maryland to step up and pass this legislation as well.
Read More
Emily Widra, The Aging Prison Population: Causes, Costs, and Consequences, 2023
ACLU of Maryland, Still Blocking the Exit, 2015
Justice Policy Institute, “Rethinking the Overincarceration of Black Young Adults in Maryland,” 2019
Justice Policy Institute, “Safe at Home: Improving Maryland’s Parole Release Decision-Making,” 2023
