Effective coverage of compassionate release challenges at the state level

Since the First Step Act made it much easier for federal prisoners to get their motions for sentence reductions before judges, discussion and debate (and litigation) over the federal approach to so-called compassionate release has been robust.   And, on-going consideration by the US Sentencing Commission of changes to its guidelines for these sentence reductions ensures that the federal debate will remain robust for the foreseeable future.

But, helpfully, the folks at Bolts have been doing the important work of making sure we do not lose sight of how these sorts of issues play out in state prisons systems.  Most recently, Bolts published an extended piece on these topics focused on Oregon, and it has published prior pieces focused on California and New York.  Here are the extended headlines of these pieces, along with links:

By Piper French, "In Oregon’s Prisons, Terminally Ill People Are Left with Little Recourse: Proposed legislation would ease the extraordinarily difficult road that incarcerated Oregonians face in securing compassionate release."

By Piper French, "California Passes Bill to Expand Prison Releases for Terminally Ill People: Few people leave prison under California’s compassionate release program, but a new measure could allow more incarcerated people to live out their final days at home."

By Victoria Law, "Prison Officials Routinely Deny Hearings to Terminally Ill New Yorkers: The frequent refusal to send medical parole cases to the state board has frustrated advocates and raises questions about the murky criteria preventing most sick people from making their case."