Sacramento, California – California has quietly shut down its court-ordered medical parole program , opting instead to send severely ill prisoners back to state prisons or release them early through compassionate release. The abrupt move, which bypassed legislative approval, is drawing sharp criticism from prisoner advocates, attorneys, and even the original author of the state’s medical parole law.
Attorneys for incarcerated people say the decision puts a medically vulnerable population at risk by placing them in institutions ill-equipped to handle severe physical and cognitive impairments. “These are not people in full command of their surroundings or memories,” said Sara Norman, an attorney involved in a long-standing federal class-action lawsuit regarding prison health care. “They’re helpless.”
Authorities designed medical parole for prisoners with permanent and debilitating conditions—such as dementia, traumatic brain injuries, or paralysis—who no longer posed a threat to society. Since 2014, authorities transferred nearly 300 prisoners to community care facilities under the program. But with the state ending its contract with Golden Legacy Care Center in Los Angeles County at the end of 2024, California Correctional Health Care Services began relocating parolees back to prison or pushing for compassionate release instead…