Mass. hearing spotlights push to expand medical and elder parole amid inmate aging crisis

Supporters of expanded medical and elder parole told the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security at a lengthy hearing that the Commonwealth’s prisons now hold one of the nation’s oldest incarcerated populations and that many inmates who no longer pose a public‑safety risk are nonetheless denied expedited release.

Speakers included people who were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated, currently and formerly incarcerated people, physicians who treat inmates and state advocates. They described delays and denials under the medical‑parole process enacted in the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act and urged changes in S.1722 / H.2693 that would clarify eligibility, speed decisions for terminal cases and provide an elder‑parole pathway for people age 55 and older who have served long terms.

The bill’s backers framed the change as both humane and cost‑effective. Dr. Katrina Armstrong, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Tufts, said she had been involved in hospital care for inmates whose last hours were spent in heavily guarded settings with limited family access. “When a person is dying, continued incarceration serves no purpose. It’s just cruelty,” Armstrong said.

Several formerly incarcerated men who said they had been wrongfully convicted described decades behind bars and health decline while inside. James Carver, freed after 36 years, told the committee he had developed multiple serious medical conditions in custody and that medical parole petitions he filed had been denied. “I would like to make known there were a lot more people in prison who should be released on medical parole,” Carver said.

Policy witnesses supplied data and cost context. Prisoners Legal Services and public‑health witnesses said Massachusetts has the highest proportion of incarcerated people age 50+ in the country, and that providing nursing‑level care in a carceral setting is expensive and often medically inappropriate. Prisoners Legal Services attorney Ida Lynn said some inmates are shackled even while intubated in hospital beds.

Advocates pointed to implementation gaps under the 2018 law: one speaker reported that 88% of medical‑parole petitions were denied in the statute’s early years. Medical witnesses and exonerees urged statutory changes to create clear timelines, protect people with cognitive impairment who cannot file on their own, and allow the parole board to consider supervised release for elders who do not meet strict medical‑parole criteria but nonetheless are unlikely to reoffend.

Committee members asked for documentation and data; several witnesses promised to supply written reports and depositions. No formal committee vote occurred at the hearing.

Supporters urged the Legislature to act to allow dying and debilitated people to spend their remaining time with family or in appropriate community care rather than in increasingly costly in‑custody medical units.

Ending: Witnesses said statutory fixes would not grant blanket release but would create humane, consistent procedures that reflect medical reality and fiscal constraints.