ELDERLY PAROLE PROGRAM

What IS THE ELDERLY PAROLE PROGRAM?

In 2013, as part of the Plata decision, a three-judge panel ordered CDCR to create a procedure enabling elderly individuals to face the Board of Parole Hearings before their minimum eligible parole date.[325] On January 1, 2018, the Legislature amended the Penal Code to include a provision on the Elderly Parole Program, changing it from a CDCR policy into state law.[326]

  1. 325

    Board of Parole Hearings Memorandum, “Elderly Parole Program” (June 16, 2014), available at https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/BOPH/docs/Policy/Elderly_Parole_Program_Overview.pdf. ↑

  2. 326

    Legislative Counsel’s Digest for AB 1448, published on Oct. 10, 2017, available at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1448. ↑

How can THE ELDERLY PAROLE PROGRAM help me?

If you are at least 60 years old and have served at least 25 years of your sentence, you may be eligible for early parole consideration under the Elderly Parole Program.[327] Among standard determinations about your risk for future violence, the Board will place special emphasis on your age, the length of time served, and whether your physical condition has diminished since you committed your crime.[328] People sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) are excluded from the program, as are individuals serving a sentence for killing a police officer.[329]

  1. 327

    Cal. Pen. Code § 3055(a). ↑

  2. 328

    Cal. Pen. Code § 3055(c). ↑

  3. 329

    Cal. Pen. Code § 3055(g) and (h). ↑