Parole board outlines medical-reprieve criteria, reports 68% grant rate in recent six months

A representative of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety that medical reprieves are an executive-clemency tool for prisoners with debilitating, terminal illnesses or who are entirely incapacitated.

The board representative said the authority derives from the state constitution (Article IV, Section 2) and is further defined in OCGA 42-9-43, which allows reprieves for both parole-eligible and parole-ineligible persons who meet narrow medical standards. "If an individual meets all of these criteria, then the board can consider them for a medical reprieve," the representative said, describing the statute's tests for a disease that is "reasonably expected to result in death within 12 months" and the definition of "entirely incapacitated."

The representative walked the committee through the board's interagency review process, which starts with identification in the Department of Corrections, proceeds to a medical review by a statewide medical director, then the board's review and decision, and ends with post-decision steps. Medical reprieves are granted for 12 months; the board may extend the reprieve, parole the individual, or allow the reprieve to expire at the end of that period.

By the numbers, the board reported receiving 34 medical-reprieve requests for the July December reporting window and granting 20 of them, with 14 denials and 10 extensions, for a 68.1% grant rate. Over the last 11 years the board has received roughly 60 requests per year on average and granted 304 medical reprieves in total, the representative said. The board noted two people died in custody while awaiting the statutory 90-day notice period for district attorneys to lodge objections in cases involving serious violent felonies.

Several senators pressed the board on practical issues: whether records of reprieve submissions are publicly available, how often district attorneys contest releases and whether the board tracks post-release mortality and longer-term outcomes. The board's representative said files are initiated by DOC but that attorneys and family members also submit requests and that they could review DA objection rates if the committee wanted more data. On tracking post-release deaths, the board said it does not currently have a dataset showing deaths after release.

The chair said the presentation increased his confidence in the process and emphasized fiscal concerns tied to the high cost of caring for incapacitated prisoners. "The almost 70 percent grant rate is impressive," the chair said, adding that the panel would consider additional data if requested.

The committee did not take formal action on the item; staff and board members agreed to provide follow-up information on the number of DA challenges to releases and any available post-release outcomes.