CPAC Foundation’s Nolan Center for Justice recently penned a letter to Chair of the Corrections and Criminal Law Committee Aaron Freeman urging the adoption of policies that would allow elderly and seriously ill inmates to request sentence modifications.
Last year, the Indiana legislature considered House Bill 1648 that proposed early releases for elderly and terminally ill inmates reasoning that these individuals historically have low recidivism rates and are more costly to the state prison system. The bill was passed by the House and was referred to the Corrections and Criminal Law Committee upon arriving in the Senate.
The Nolan Center for Justice’s letter cited data from the United States Sentencing Commission and the Indiana Department of Corrections on the low recidivism rates for these groups and from the National Institute of Corrections on the higher costs of these inmates. Director of the Nolan Center for Justice Patrick Plein urged Chairman Freeman “to support and advance fiscally prudent, conservative policies that would provide a narrow, but meaningful opportunity for geriatric and medical sentence to a population that poses no risk to public safety.”
Read the full letter here.
