In the 2025 legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly addressed a critical issue plaguing Maryland’s correctional system: the growing population of aging and terminally ill individuals who remain incarcerated due to outdated and unclear parole policies. The reforms to medical and geriatric parole, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, are essential and shamefully overdue. The responsibility now shifts to the governor and Parole Commission to act decisively to implement these reforms with urgency and commitment.

At the Office of the Public Defender, we experience firsthand the reality of countless individuals who cannot care for themselves, are entangled in a correctional system, and are fundamentally ill-equipped to meet their basic human needs. Assistant Public Defender Lila Meadows has described the grim reality of elderly and sick people in prison: “I have represented clients who are confined to wheelchairs, (cannot) feed themselves, are wearing diapers, waiting hours for someone to come by the infirmary to change them, developing bed sores, who have been refused from parole because the standards are unclear, despite the fact that their condition will not reverse.” Their continued incarceration serves no public safety benefit — it prolongs unnecessary suffering and wastes taxpayer dollars.

Maryland’s approach to elderly and terminally ill prisoners has been outdated and inhumane for decades. Currently, approximately 439 individuals over the age of 60 in Maryland’s correctional system are serving a parole-eligible sentence but do not qualify for release due to a drafting error that made the law eligible only to individuals convicted of multiple crimes of violence. The new measure fixes the error and establishes a framework for fair evaluation.

Current law also restricts medical parole to those who are “so chronically debilitated or incapacitated by a medical or mental health condition, disease, or syndrome as to be physically incapable of presenting a danger to society,” a standard so narrow that only 14 people were granted medical parole last year, with five dying almost immediately upon release. The new laws will address these shortcomings, ensuring that those in dire medical conditions are given a humane chance at release.

Opponents of these new laws unsuccessfully engaged in fear mongering tactics designed to stoke public anxiety. The scare tactics failed in the face of overwhelming evidence and real-world facts. We know that when Maryland previously released elderly people after decades of incarceration, the results were overwhelmingly positive. The 2012 Maryland Supreme Court decision in Unger v. Maryland resulted in the release of approximately 200 elderly individuals who previously spent decades in prison serving life sentences. Their 3% recidivism rate is significantly lower than the state’s 40% average, proving that granting parole to aging prisoners does not jeopardize public safety.

The financial burden on Maryland taxpayers, keeping elderly and terminally ill individuals behind bars, is staggering. The Sentencing Project reports that life imprisonment can exceed $1 million per incarcerated adult, largely due to health care. Nationwide, taxpayers spend twice as much on aging inmates compared to younger ones. In addition to the financial costs, the continued incarceration of elderly and terminally ill individuals has ethical costs. It reinforces overly punitive sentencing practices that have historically targeted and continue to disproportionately affect communities of color.

The continued imprisonment of elderly and terminally ill individuals exposes the deeply rooted racial injustice at the heart of Maryland’s criminal legal system. Maryland disproportionately imprisons Black people. Despite constituting only 30% of Maryland’s state population, Black people make up approximately 72% of the prison population. Furthermore, 21% of Maryland’s prison population is over 50 years old. Maryland faces both fiscal and ethical challenges in continuing to incarcerate elderly individuals who pose minimal risk. By expanding parole for older inmates, Maryland can simultaneously address public safety concerns, fiscal responsibility, and the racial inequities embedded in the criminal legal system.

Amid a growing prison crisis, medical and geriatric parole reforms provide a sound framework for constructing a compassionate and fiscally responsible path forward. All Marylanders benefit from reforms that reduce the financial burden of incarceration and uphold the values of dignity and humanity. This legislation is a powerful catalyst for reform and essential to correct the decades of failed policies that have destroyed lives, crippled communities and drained Maryland’s treasury. We must act decisively to implement laws that will rectify racial disparities, restore basic humanity and align practices with the values of justice, dignity and fairness for all.

Natasha Dartigue (Natasha.dartigue@maryland.gov) is public defender for Maryland.