New Michigan Law Will Allow Parole for Prisoners with Serious Medical Conditions

Michigan prisoners will now be eligible for parole for serious medical conditions. This law will go into effect in August.

What Does the Law Do?

Prisoners deemed “medically frail” will be eligible for parole before their original first “out-date” if they meet the qualifications. The prisoner can be released to a medical facility such as a nursing home, hospital, or hospice. Michigan Department of Correction Supervision will retain jurisdiction as the prisoner is still under parole conditions. A person may violate their parole if they were to walk-away from the medical facility or not otherwise comply with parole conditions. Read the whole law here.

What Does “Medically Frail” Mean?

This law applies to prisoners deemed medically frail. An appropriate physician who is not employed by the Department of Corrections will evaluate the prisoner and make a report.

Medically frail is an individual who is a minimal threat to society as a result of his or her medical condition, who has received a risk score of low on a validated risk assessment, whose recent conduct in prison indicates he or she is unlikely to engage in assaultive conduct, and who has 1 or more of the following;

• A permanent or terminal physical disability or serious and complex medical condition resulting in the inability to 1 or more of the following without assistance;
  • Walk
  • Stand
  • Sit
• A permanent or terminal disabling mental disorder, including;
  • Dementia
  • Alzheimer’s
  • Or a similar degenerative brain disorder that results in the need for nursing home level or care, and a significantly impaired ability to perform 2 or more activities of daily living.

What Prisoners Will Not Be Eligible For Medical Parole?

Prisoners sentenced to life, or convicted of a charge punishable by life or for first-degree criminal sexual conduct are not eligible for medical parole.

This Will Be a Popular Law

No one wants to keep people in prison who don’t know where they are or can no longer get out of bed. At this point in a person’s life, prisoners should have access to the best medical care and a little dignity as they end out their days or are on the edge of dying.

Contact us

Call Sam Bernstein at 734-883-9584 or e-mail at bernstein@arborypsilaw.com.

Sam Bernstein is a Criminal Law Attorney in Ann Arbor, MI 48108.

ArborYpsi Law is located at 2750 Carpenter Rd #2, Ann Arbor, MI 48108.

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