California

For Media Inquiries:
Tripp Laino, 202-999-4273
tlaino@famm.org

FAMM releases statement after California Senate passes compassionate release bill

SACRAMENTO – FAMM General Counsel Mary Price released the following statement after the California Senate passing a bill that would improve the state’s compassionate release process.

“This bill would vastly improve California’s compassionate release system that today leaves too many sick and dying people behind,” Price said. “With the growing concerns around crime in California, the state cannot afford to waste its limited resources incarcerating seriously and terminally ill people who pose no threat to public safety. We hope the Assembly will agree and pass this bill so California can safely release terminally ill and gravely debilitated people from the state’s prisons.”

Between January 2015 and April 2021, 91 people died while awaiting compassionate release, while only 53 people were released.

AB 960 would expand compassionate release eligibility criteria, streamline the program by removing the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from the compassionate release decision-making process, and ensure all medically eligible incarcerated people have their day in court to determine whether they can safely be resentenced.

For more than three decades, FAMM has united the voices of affected families, the formerly incarcerated, and a range of stakeholders and advocates to fight for a more fair and effective justice system. FAMM has led the fight to reform extreme mandatory sentencing laws and to promote rehabilitation and dignity for all people in prison, 94 percent of whom will return to our neighborhoods one day.

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FAMM is a national nonpartisan advocacy organization that promotes fair and effective criminal justice policies that safely reduce incarceration, save taxpayer dollars, and keep families together. Founded in 1991, FAMM has secured bold sentencing and prison reform across the country while elevating the voices of directly impacted individuals and families.