Disconcerting accounting of implementation of New Jersey’s limited compassionate release law

A set of US Supreme Court cases to be argued in November — which are already being discussing at the Sentencing Matters Substack in recent posts here and here — seems likely to bring more attention to so-called “compassionate release” laws and practices.  But the cases before the Justices highlight why, at least in the federal system, the term “compassionate release” can be something of a misnomer if thought to encompass only releases based on a prisoner’s age, illness or family matters.  Applicable federal law authorizes judges to “reduce the term of imprisonment” on various grounds, and the cases involving federal sentence-reduction authority that SCOTUS has taken up do not involve medical or family issues.

That all said, even in the federal system, sentence-reduction authority is often ussed to address what might be called traditional “compassionate release” issues: the latest data from the US Sentencing Commission detail that “serious physical or medical condition” and “terminal illness” and “family circumstances” are among the most common reasons given by federal judges when granting a sentence reduction so far in Fiscal Year 2025.  In addition, many states have more traditional “compassionate release” laws that are much narrower in design and application than federal sentence-reduction law.  (FAMM has a robust accounting of all state compassionate release laws here on its website.)

This background provides some content for this notable new article from New Jersey headlined “Minimal savings achieved from NJ law allowing sick inmates to die at home.”  In addition to providing a disconcerting report on how the Garden State has implemented a new compassionate release law, this piece provides a critical reminder that the implementation intricacies of any form of sentencing reform can often be more important and consequential than enactment.  I recommend the local article in full for anyone interested in these issues, and here are excerpts:

When New Jersey lawmakers passed a law in 2020 meant to free more gravely ill people from prison so they could die at home, they also ordered state corrections officials to reinvest any savings into programs that aid reentry and reduce recidivism. Five years later, officials have yet to do so.

Seven seriously ill people have been freed from state prisons since 2021 under the compassionate release law, cutting a combined 1,849 days off their sentences and saving the system, by the Department of Corrections’ own estimate, $71,585. But that money remains in departmental coffers, unspent….

The law replaced a 1997 medical release statute under which hardly anyone got released. But the newer law has not had much more success, averaging just over one person a year freed. That makes little sense to prison reformers, who say health care costs soar as the prison population grays while recidivism risks fall as people age….

Department officials placed blame on judges, who ultimately decide whether to free the people the department deems eligible. Thirty-six people met eligibility requirements in the past five years, but judges did not approve 26 of them for release (another three await court decisions), according to departmental data.  To be eligible, a person must have a terminal illness or be permanently physically incapacitated by a medical condition they didn’t have when sentenced and that requires 24-hour care….

While New Jersey could save more if more people were freed on compassionate release, it’s tough to quantify exactly how many eligible people remain behind bars or have been rejected as ineligible.  To get compassionate release, incarcerated people must be medically evaluated by prison health care providers and be granted a certificate of eligibility from the department.  Superior Court judges then decide whether to grant their release.

Corrections officials did not respond to the New Jersey Monitor’s questions on how many people have applied for consideration.  The department also denied a public records request for those applications, citing health privacy restrictions.  Peter McAleer, a courts spokesman, said the court system does not track compassionate release cases. Almost 1,100 people now incarcerated in New Jersey state prisons are 60 or older, departmental data shows.