Second Chances Resource Library

This article looks at the growing population of older individuals in prisons and the resulting high costs.

Alaska provides compassionate release to eligible incarcerated individuals with serious medical conditions through Special Medical Parole and to those who are age 60 and older through Geriatric Parole/Discretionary Parole Based on Age. This memo summarizes the regulations and requirements of these programs, including the categories of release, eligibility criteria, the decision-making process, post-decision topics, and reporting.

This infographic explains what second look sentencing is, why we need it, and how it works.

Alabama provides compassionate release to incarcerated people who are permanently incapacitated, terminally ill, or geriatric (older) through its Medical Parole and Medical Furlough programs. This memo summarizes the regulations and requirements of these programs, including the categories of release, eligibility criteria, the decision-making process, post-decision topics, and reporting.

This bill, passed in 2021, established the County Resentencing Pilot Program to support and evaluate a collaborative approach to a district attorney’s exercise of their discretion to petition to recall an individual’s case for resentencing. (The bill also included other topics).

This bill, passed in 2018, allows a court to recall and resentence a defendant upon the recommendation of the district attorney of the county in which the defendant was sentenced.

This paper provides the overall landscape of the issues affecting older people in prison, with a particular focus on New York. The first section discusses the most significant contributing factors to the dramatic growth in the numbers of people aging in prison: lengthy sentences, narrow release mechanisms, and society’s approach and response to violence. Sections Two and Three examine the experiences and challenges faced by older people while incarcerated (including the impact on corrections of providing care and custody to an aging population) and upon reentry. Section Four offers examples of programs and approaches designed to address the needs of older people in prison and upon their return to the community. Section Five presents recommendations that include the full range of policy and practice reforms needed to address the crisis. Implementing these recommendations will require decision-makers to confront the current punishment paradigm which has roots in and perpetuates racial injustice, and criminalizes addiction and mental illness.

This bill, passed in 2021, allows for the discretionary early release of those who are medically incapacitated or terminally ill.

64 elected prosecutors and law enforcement leaders joined together in this statement urging elected prosecutors and policy makers to embrace mechanisms that can provide second chances for the many people in our nation serving decades-long sentences who pose little or no risk to public safety. The statement notes that in order to end mass incarceration, justice system leaders must address the high number of individuals serving extreme sentences and cites well-established research showing that these lengthy prison terms have not deterred crime or promoted public safety.

This fact sheet provides information on California’s County Resentencing Pilot Program. This is the first pilot of its kind across the country, in which nine California counties have been allocated budget specifically and solely for resentencing.