Emergency Medical Transfer: Massachusetts should join the majority of other states and create a way for people who are terminally ill or permanently incapacitated to be placed at alternative locations, such as nursing homes, or in hospice care.

• An Act Relative to Terminal and Incapacitated Inmates (SD.1718), Sen. Patricia Jehlen:
  • PLS Fact Sheet
  • Full bill can be found here.
• An Act Relative to Terminal and Incapacitated Inmates (HD.2042 / HD.3446), Rep. Sean Garballey and Rep. Chris Markey:
  • PLS Fact Sheet will be made available shortly.
  • House bill text should be available soon.

• An Act Relative to Supervised Medical Parole of Terminal and Extraordinaily Incapacitated Inmates (HD.1645), Rep. Claire Cronin:
  • PLS Fact Sheet will be made available shortly.
  • House bill text should be available soon.

Resources:

• “Old, Sick and Dying in Prison: There’s a Better Way – SD1417” (pdf), PLSMA, January 2015
• “Nursing Homes Behind Bars,” New York Times, September 28, 2014
• “The High Costs of Low Risk: The Crisis of America’s Aging Prison Population” (pdf), The Osborne Association, July 2014
• “The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Compassionate Release Program” (pdf), US Department of Justice, April 2013
• “Lawmakers Look to Medical Parole to Cut Prison Costs,” Texas Tribune, January 18, 2013
• “At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly” (pdf), ACLU, June 2012
• “Reforms Needed for Compassionate Release of Prison Inmates,” UCSF, June 2, 2011
• “The Other Death Sentence”, September 25, 2012
• “It’s About Time” (pdf), Vera Institute of Justice, April 2010
• “The State of Aging: Prisoners and Compassionate Release Programs,” Tina Maschi, August 23, 2012