For immediate release: Senator Raj Mukherji introduces bill to give incarcerated senior citizens a second chance
Last Thursday, January 25, Senator Raj Mukherji introduced into the New Jersey Legislature the Rehabilitative Release bill which, if passed, will offer hundreds of incarcerated senior citizens the opportunity to prove that they are ready to return home to their families.
“Public safety and carceral policy should be evidence-based,” said Senator Mukherji, the bill’s prime sponsor. “Elderly people in prison are associated with expensive and complicated healthcare needs, and many pose a very low risk of recidivism after serving lengthy custodial terms. This bill provides an opportunity to remedy a practice that is a wasteful use of taxpayer money, inhumane, and bad for public safety.”
Over the last decade, senior citizens have been the only demographic to increase in New Jersey prisons. New Jersey ranks 4th among all states in its percentage of elderly people serving life sentences. Research shows that people over the age of 60, especially those who have served more than 20 years, are unlikely to re-offend or recidivate.
“In recent years, Governor Murphy has taken significant steps to reduce New Jersey’s prison population, but these efforts have failed to address the rising number of incarcerated senior citizens who have no hope to come home,” said Racquel Romans-Henry, Policy Director of Salvation and Social Justice. “It’s time for New Jersey to correct this injustice that falls disproportionately on Black senior citizens. In New Jersey, a Black person is locked up at a rate 12 times that of a white person—the worst disparity in the nation.”
Incarcerated senior citizens are at a higher risk than younger prisoners of developing physical and mental disabilities, are more vulnerable to infectious diseases, and are more likely to experience medical neglect. The medical needs of elderly prisoners present a greater burden on the healthcare services of our prison system. Locking up senior citizens costs four times as much as incarcerating younger people.
If passed, the Rehabilitative Release bill would require the Department of Corrections to identify people who are 60 years old and have served at least 20 years in custody, or, if convicted of murder, those who are at least 62 years old and have served at least 30 years. DOC would issue these individuals a Certificate of Eligibility, and they would be assigned counsel from the public defender’s office unless they chose to retain private counsel.
At a hearing in Superior Court, the person would have the opportunity to present evidence of their rehabilitation and transformation while incarcerated. The court could then choose to modify, reduce, or suspend their sentence based on evidence that they have made significant efforts to participate in educational, therapeutic, or vocational opportunities while incarcerated and are not a danger to public safety. An incarcerated person who receives a modified sentence under the bill is to be sentenced to a five-year term of parole supervision.
S2338 is modeled on the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission’s recommendations which were released last year. The bipartisan commission, which included the Attorney General and the Department of Corrections Commissioner, urged lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow incarcerated persons over the age of 60 who have served at least 20 years, to petition the courts to be resentenced or released.
“True justice requires opportunities for restoration, regardless of decisions people made early in life,” said Rev. Amos Caley, lead organizer of the Second Look Coalition. “The Rehabilitative Release bill is responsible public and fiscal policy. More importantly, it is morally right. We urge all of New Jersey’s elected leaders to champion this issue and support this legislative effort.”
Contact:
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
917-273-7088
elizabethwg@gmail.com