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| Badly ill inmates may get freedom |
| By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
| Published: 08/11/2003 |
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Severely ill prison inmates whose medical costs can be a burden to Georgia taxpayers will begin getting a closer look for possible release, the chairman of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles says. Chairman Milton E. 'Buddy' Nix Jr. said he wanted to begin meeting with sick inmates 'face to face' so he could make a better determination about whether they were safe to be released from prison. Forty-nine inmates have been released early under the 'medical reprieve' program. Inmates who are catastrophically or terminally ill are released to the care of family members or a nursing home or hospice. Nix emphasized this week that public safety would continue to be the overriding factor in determining whether an inmate should be released early. With continuing cuts to the Department of Corrections budget and an increasing prison population of more than 47,000, the two agencies are working together to find ways to move some inmates -- particularly nonviolent offenders -- out of the system. Severely ill inmates, such as those with AIDS or terminal cancer, have put a particularly large financial strain on the prison system. Last year, for example, it cost the system $340,000 to treat the lupus, diabetes and kidney failure of a woman imprisoned for shoplifting and theft. The woman died in prison in March 2002. Most decisions on medical reprieves are made by examining documents submitted to the parole board that include separate recommendations from a prison doctor and warden. |
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