Female Inmates Being Eyed For Release To Ease Crowding
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — More than two dozen seriously ill female inmates could be among the first in line for release as California struggles to meet a federal court order to reduce prison crowding by year's end, officials said Monday.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to delay a lower court order requiring the state to free nearly 10,000 inmates to help improve conditions for those who are sick or mentally ill.
A federal official who controls prison medical care has given corrections officials files on about 30 women who could be released on medical parole as part of the state's response. They are among 900 inmates statewide who have been preliminarily identified as eligible for medical parole, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver.
It's just one step California is taking to meet the court order.
"We're starting with the inmates with the most serious medical conditions. These are ones that likely will need to be placed in nursing homes," Hayhoe said.
All are seriously ill, but not as incapacitated as the 55 inmates who have been granted medical parole under a state law that took effect in 2011. That law allowed inmates to be medically paroled only if they were permanently incapacitated while in prison, meaning they require 24-hour care and cannot perform activities of basic daily living.
The state said it would expand its definition as one way of freeing more inmates, though officials still are awaiting a final court order waiving the existing state law so they can begin considering the broader standard. None of the 30 women are in a coma, for instance. And although some have paralysis, many can get around at least to some extent on their own, Hayhoe said. They range in age from a 26-year-old with a significant illness to an 86-year-old with numerous medical problems.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
