Elderly Parole Program.

Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to meet with an inmate during the 6th year prior to the inmate's minimum eligible parole release date to document the inmate's activities and conduct pertinent to parole eligibility. Existing law, the Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law, as added by Proposition 9 at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, requires the panel, or the board if sitting en banc, to set a release date at the meeting, unless it determines that consideration of the public and victim's safety requires a more lengthy period of incarceration, and that a parole date cannot be fixed at the meeting. Existing law requires the board to schedule the next parole consideration hearing 15, 10, 7, 5, or 3 years after any hearing at which parole is denied. Existing law allows the board to advance a hearing set pursuant to these provisions to an earlier date when a change in circumstances or new information establishes a reasonable likelihood that consideration of the public and victim's safety does not require an additional period of incarceration. This bill would establish the Elderly Parole Program, for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of inmates who are 60 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 25 years of continuous incarceration, as defined, on their sentence. When considering the release of an inmate who meets this criteria, the bill would require the board to consider whether age, time served, and diminished physical condition, if any, have reduced the elderly inmate's risk for future violence. The bill would also require the Board of Parole Hearings to consider whether an inmate will qualify for the program when determining the prisoner's next parole suitability hearing. If the inmate is found suitable for parole under the Elderly Parole Program, the bill would require the board to release the individual on parole, as specified. The bill would exempt from Elderly Parole Program eligibility a person who was sentenced pursuant to the Three Strikes Law, a person who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or death, and a person who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a peace officer or a person who had been a peace officer, as provided. The bill would make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3041 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 1408 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1408 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.