Elderly Parole Program

All parole consideration hearings held by the Board of Parole Hearings are governed by Penal Code section 3041. At a parole hearing the board must consider all relevant and reliable evidence and determine whether releasing the person would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society. At elderly parole hearings, the same standard and procedures apply, but in addition the board is required to give special consideration to whether age, time served, and diminished physical condition, if any, have reduced the elderly inmate’s risk of violence.

The Elderly Parole Program grew out of a federal class-action lawsuit. On February 10, 2014, a federal three-judge court overseeing the California prison overcrowding class action case issued an order that required the State to develop and implement “a new parole process whereby inmates who are 60 years of age or older and have served a minimum of 25 years of their sentence will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings to determine suitability for parole.

Public safety is the primary concern for Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) commissioners. The Board does not determine who is entitled to a parole hearing — eligibility is set by the sentences courts impose and the laws enacted by the legislature, including Youth Offender, Elderly Offender, and Non-Violent Offender laws.  Eligibility for a parole hearing does not necessarily mean release on parole.

The BPH is an independent board that conducts suitability hearings at which they determine if an individual currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. Those found to pose an unreasonable risk are not released on parole.

Information from a variety of sources is considered during a parole hearing, including a Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA), the candidate’s central file, parole plans and impact statements. Commissioners may not deny parole based solely on the facts of the crime. The law requires that a hearing panel must grant parole at a parole hearing, unless it determines the incarcerated person currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to society if released from prison. Under California law, the narrow question commissioners must answer at a parole hearing is whether the person currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.

The Board’s standard is stringent, involves numerous steps and use of validated risk assessment tools. Every inmate receives an evaluation by forensic psychologist to gauge his or her suitability for release in the months prior to a scheduled parole hearing, and the psychologist prepares a report for the parole board review prior to the hearing. Parole commissioners also receive extensive training on evaluating the current risk of incarcerated people, including the use of validated evidence-based risk assessment tools. Hearing officers use these tools to analyze the person’s risk factors and determine whether the person can safely return to their communities and if their proposed parole plans and conditions of parole are sufficient to manage their individual risk factors.

For additional information regarding CRAs and the BPH process, please review the California Parole Hearing Process Handbook.

At an elderly parole hearing, the hearing panel shall give special consideration to the individual’s age, time served, and diminished physical condition, if any, when determining the individual’s suitability for parole. In addition, these same factors are also considered by the Board’s forensic clinical psychologists when they prepare risk assessments for elderly parole hearings. Further information about the elderly factors can be found in the board’s regulation California Code of Regulations, title 15, section 2449.43.

Under Penal Code section 3055, incarcerated persons are eligible for the Elderly Parole Program after reaching age 50 and being continuously incarcerated for 20 years, except the following:

1. Persons sentenced to death;
2. Persons sentenced to life without the possibility of parole;
3. Persons sentenced under California’s strike laws for a second or third strike;
4. Persons convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer or former peace officer due to performance of their official duties.

Being eligible for the Elderly Parole Program is not an automatic parole grant. The same procedures and legal standards for regular parole suitability hearings also apply to an elder parole hearing. This means BPH may deny parole if a person’s release would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. The BPH gives special consideration in Elderly Parole hearings to how age, time served, and diminished physical condition, have reduced the person’s risk for future violence.

The Elderly Parole Program is not a “one-size-fits-all” situation and has a system of checks and balances in place, with a parole decision reviewed by the governor and then returning before the full board for further review if need be. Under state law, the Governor may only reverse a parole grant in murder cases.

Not necessarily. A person may meet the conditions of the Elderly Parole Program, but they may also meet the conditions for other categories as well. A person may be eligible for a parole suitability hearing if they fall under one or more of the following categories:

• Indeterminately sentenced persons receive a parole suitability hearing based on their Minimum Eligible Parole Date (MEPD)
• Youth offenders (under 26 at time of crime) receive a parole suitability hearing based on their Youth Parole Eligible Date (YPED)
• Elderly persons (there are two formulas that require a certain age and continuous incarceration for a certain number of years) receive a parole suitability hearing based on their Elderly Parole Eligible Date (EPED)
• Nonviolent offenders receive a parole suitability hearing based on their Nonviolent Parole Eligible Date (NPED)
• People who receive a commutation of a sentence receive a parole suitability hearing based on their Executive Parole Eligible Date (XPED)

No. Eligibility only means a person will receive a hearing – not that they will be released. The Board grants parole at fewer than 12 percent of scheduled parole hearings

A grant of suitability does not mean the automatic release of an incarcerated person. All grants of parole are proposed decisions and become final only after a thorough and comprehensive review by the Board of Parole Hearings and the Governor, which can take up to 150 days.

If the Board votes to grant parole at a parole suitability hearing, the decision will be sent to the Governor’s office for review. Under state law, the Governor may only reverse a parole grant in murder cases. In cases involving non-murder offenses, the Governor’s only options are to allow the person to be released on parole or refer the decision back to the Board of Parole Hearings for review by the commissioners sitting en banc (all of the full-time commissioners sit together to hear and decide a decision, rather than the standard smaller panel of commissioners).

If the en banc panel votes to vacate the original hearing panel’s decision, the incarcerated person will be scheduled for a new hearing in about four to six months.

Also, the Board’s legal division is required by law to review all decisions resulting in a grant of parole. If the chief counsel finds an error of law, error of fact, or new information substantially likely to result in a substantially different decision, the chief counsel will refer the case for review by a panel of commissioners.

Overall, the Board’s record of protecting public safety by granting parole only to those unlikely to return to prison (recidivate) is among the best in the United States. More than 97 percent of people released after a parole hearing successfully transitioned to the community without being convicted of another crime within three years. Less than 3 percent (2.5%) were convicted of any new misdemeanor or felony within three years. Less than 1 percent (0.5%) were convicted of a new felony offense against a person during that same period.  These outcomes are consistent with decades of research showing that recidivism declines sharply with age. Individuals over 60 have some of the lowest reoffending rates of any demographic group in the correctional system.  The reoffending (recidivism) rate for Elderly Parole Program releases is only 1.8% for any conviction.

BPH works closely with the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services

to ensure crime victims receive timely notice and support through Board processes. Impact statements from victims are considered during all parole hearings.

Crime victims and survivors, and their next-of-kin are encouraged to register to request services from CDCR’s Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services.