Editorial Takes State to Task on Inmate Medical Parole

This week, the California "Board of Parole Hearings denied medical parole for a quadriplegic," a Sacramento Bee editorial states. A new state law "requires prison medical officials to identify 'permanently medically incapacitated' prisoners" who could be granted medical parole, the editorial continues. "Two commissioners decided" that the quadriplegic inmate could "use other people to carry out threats," yet "the law clearly requires that" medical parole violators "could be returned to prison custody," the editorial adds, concluding, "California, it seems, can't even put a quadriplegic on parole. Legislators may need to fix the law to make medical parole possible."

• "Big Hurdles Remain To Fix Medical Parole" (Sacramento Bee, 5/27).