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| Inmate may be first to be set free under 'medical parole' |
| By latimes.com - Jack Dolan |
| Published: 06/16/2011 |
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A man convicted of home invasion and serving 68 years is set to be released from prison under a law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allowing those deemed too disabled to no longer pose a threat to safety to be let out of prison. A Northern California man serving 68 years for a home invasion robbery is likely to be the first inmate released from state prison on "medical parole" under a controversial law passed last year meant to save the corrections department millions of dollars in treating and guarding medically incapacitated inmates. On Wednesday, the Board of Parole Hearings granted an application from Craig Lemke, 48, who in 2006 broke into an elderly couple's home, bound them with duct tape and robbed them of money, jewelry and firearms. Under the law, inmates are eligible for medical parole only if they're so disabled — paralyzed, in comas, hooked up to ventilators — that they no longer pose a credible threat to public safety. Officials would not provide details of Lemke's medical condition, citing health privacy laws. Lemke is the second inmate to have a medical parole hearing under the law signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September. Last month the board denied the first request, from a convicted rapist paralyzed in an assault by other inmates, saying he remained a threat because he can still speak. A spokeswoman for the federal receiver in charge of inmate healthcare said the state will save between $750,000 and $800,000 per year in security costs alone if Lemke is paroled. That's what it costs to post guards around the clock on inmates who are so sick they require care in hospitals outside of prison walls. If prisoners are paroled, the medical costs would shift to their families, if they can afford to pay, or to other government programs if they cannot. The expense of guarding the patients would be eliminated. Read More. |
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