SB 6: Parole: medical parole: compassionate release.

Existing law provides that the Board of Parole Hearings or its successor in interest shall be the states parole authority. Existing law requires that a prisoner who is found to be permanently medically incapacitated, as specified, be granted medical parole, if the Board of Parole Hearings determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety. Existing law exempts a prisoner sentenced to death, a prisoner sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and a prisoner who is serving a sentence for which parole is prohibited by initiative statute, from medical parole eligibility.

Existing law authorizes a court to resentence or recall the sentence of a prisoner if the court finds that the prisoner is terminally ill, as specified, or the prisoner is permanently medically incapacitated, as specified, and, in either case, the conditions under which the prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a threat to public safety. Existing law exempts a prisoner sentenced to death or a term of life without the possibility of parole from eligibility for compassionate release pursuant to these provisions.

This bill would additionally exempt from medical parole eligibility and compassionate release eligibility a prisoner who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a peace officer or a person who had been a peace officer, as provided.