How states use — or don’t use — medical parole to release sick and dying people from prison
An updated table of state-by-state data shows that medical parole (also known as compassionate release) is used so sparingly that very few people are actually released this way.
by Emily Widra, July 22, 2026
In almost every state, there are laws on the books offering a way out of prison for people who are seriously or terminally ill. Medical parole — also known in some states as compassionate release, medical release, or conditional release for medical reasons — is ostensibly an early release mechanism for extremely ill or incapacitated people who pose little or no threat to public safety. In reality, medical parole sets an extremely high bar for applicants, with a lengthy and confusing application and hearing process. As a result, most applicants remain locked up, with many people dying before their cases are resolved.
We compiled publicly available data from all 47 states with medical parole laws, the District of Columbia, and the federal prison system, in an effort to update data collected and published by FAMM which they updated in 2021 and 2025 where possible). Ultimately, these data show just how few people benefit from this type of early release, despite the level of need and public support for these laws. Because most states are not statutorily required to publish data regarding medical parole, in many cases we were not able to find data more recent than what FAMM collected from state agency reports and records requests. In most states where we were able to update the data, there has been no increase in the use of medical parole over the past few years, and the number of people granted medical parole each year remains extremely low. For example:
- Florida reported granting Conditional Medical Release to 45 people in 2019 and 35 people in 2020, but granted release to only 18 people in FY2025.
- Massachusetts reported granting Medical Parole to three people in 2019 and 31 people in 2020 (during COVID-19), but only 11 people in FY2024.
- New Jersey reported granting Medical Parole to ten people from 2011 to 2020, but only eight people from FY2021 to FY2025.
With a rapidly aging population, inadequate medical care inside, and too few care facilities that will accept people with felony convictions if they are approved for medical parole, states need to make better use of all early release mechanisms to keep prisons from becoming nursing homes.
Publicly available data on medical parole applications, hearings, and grants by jurisdiction
| Jurisdiction | Type | Number of hearings or applications | Number granted | Grant rate | Year | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Medical Parole | 19 | 4 | 21% | 2019 | In addition, Alabama has a Medical Furlough option: from 2015-2025, an average of 7 people per year were placed on Medical Furlough. | Bureau of Pardons & Paroles, 2020 |
| Alaska | Special Medical Parole | 3 | 2024 | Zero percent of people on parole were on special medical parole at year end 2020 – 2025. | Board of Parole, Discretionary Parole Hearings 2015-2024 & Quick Facts 2020-2025. | ||
| Arizona | No medical parole. | ||||||
| Arkansas | Medical Parole | No public data. | The Parole Board did not respond to FAMM’s 2020 data request. | ||||
| California | Medical Parole | 271 | 183 | 68% | January 1, 2011 – September 9, 2020 | Board of Parole Hearings | |
| Colorado | Special Needs Parole | 59 | 4 | 7% | July 1, 2025 – May 31, 2026 | At the end of June 2026, the Parole Board had granted four people Special Needs Parole, denied 36 applicants, and “tabled” 19 applicants. | Department of Corrections, Senate Bill 21-146: Special Needs Parole, May 2026 |
| Connecticut | Medical Parole | 1 | 1 | 100% | 2025 | Connecticut has a separate pathway for compassionate parole: compassionate parole does not require a terminal medical condition, but has a narrower range of eligible offense types. In 2025, there were zero compassionate parole cases. | Board of Pardons & Parole, Statistical information |
| Delaware | Sentence Modification; Medical Parole (“old law”) | No public data. | Medical Parole is available only for people sentenced under “old law” for crimes committed before June 30, 1990 (Truth in Sentencing Act of 1989, S.B. 58, 135th Gen. Assemb.). | Beginning in 2026, there the state will publish medical parole data via the Delaware Statistical Analysis Center, according to FAMM (2025). | |||
| District of Columbia | Medical & Geriatric Suspension of Sentence; Medical & Geriatric Parole (“old law”) | No public data. | Medical & Geriatric Parole is available for people convicted of crimes committed before August 5, 2000 (D.C. Code S 24-468). | ||||
| Federal | Compassionate Release | 2,795 | 394 | 14% | FY 2025 | There were 2,795 motions for Compassionate Release in federal courts in FY 2025. Of those, 2,401 were denied. | U.S. Sentencing Commission Compassionate Release Data Report, FY 2025 |
| Florida | Conditional Medical Release | 37 | 18 | 49% | FY 2025 | Commission on Offender Review, 2025 Annual Report | |
| Georgia | Medical Repreive | 10 | FY 2025 | Board of Pardons & Paroles, 2025 Annual Report | |||
| Hawaii | Medical Release | No public data. | |||||
| Idaho | Medical Parole | 1 | 2020 | Older data includes the number of hearings: in 2018, there were 7 Medical Parole hearings, 4 of which resulted in granting Medical Parole (57% grant rate). | Commission of Pardons & Parole, as reported to FAMM in 2021 | ||
| Illinois | Medical Release (Joe Coleman Medical Release Act) | 34 | 2024 | Of the 34 people approved for Medical Release, eight were not released during 2024 and one died in custody preior to release. In 2022, there were 78 “qualified applications” set for a hearing and 182 “nonqualified applications” (i.e., did not meet at least one criteria required by statute). | Department of Corrections, 2024 Joe Coleman Medical Release Act Annual Report | ||
| Indiana | Special Medical Clemency; Temporary Leave | No public data. | People with serious medical conditions are eligible for Special Medical Clemency and those with terminal illnesses are eligible for Temporary Leave. | The Parole Board did not respond to FAMM’s data request. | |||
| Iowa | No medical parole. | ||||||
| Kansas | Functional Incapacitation Release; Terminal Medical Release | 4 | 2013-2020 | From 2013 to 2020, three people were granted Functional Incapacitation Release (for debilitating medical conditions) and one person was granted Terminal Medical Release (for terminal illness requiring “facing death within 30 days” as determined by a physician). | Reporting published in The Wichita Eagle, (Shorman, 2020) and The Kansas City Star, (Nozicka, 2021). | ||
| Kentucky | Early Medical Consideration (Early Parole) | 20 | 7 | 35% | 2020 | At the end of 2020, out of the 20 applications, four individuals were found ineligible, three individuals died, and one request was still pending. | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 |
| Louisiana | Medical Parole | 10 | 8 | 80% | 2022 | Publicly available information on Medical Parole requests is only available until 2022; the annual reports for 2023-2025 do not include information on Medical Parole. | Board of Pardons & Committee on Parole, J20 2022 Annual report |
| Maine | Supervised Community Confinement | 168 | The Department of Corrections approved 168 people in 2020 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but only 67 people in 2019, for Supervised Community Confinement. | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 | |||
| Maryland | Medical Parole | 613 | 149 | 24% | 2013-2022 | Reporting published in The Banner, Segelbaum (2023) | |
| Massachusetts | Medical Parole | 44 | 11 | 25% | FY 2024 | Department of Correction, Medical Parole Annual Report (Fiscal Year 2024) | |
| Michigan | Medically Frail Parole | 1 | 2019-2024 | In 2024, the legislation governing Medically Frail Parole was improved, but no data is available yet. | Safe & Just Michigan, Medically Frail Parole | ||
| Minnesota | Conditional Medical Release | On December 31, 2025, there were nine people on Conditional Medical Release. | Department of Corrections, 2025 Probation Survey | ||||
| Mississippi | Conditional Medical Release | 5 | FY 2024 | As of January 5, 2026, there were 13 people on Medical Release. | Department of Corrections, 2024 Annual Report | ||
| Missouri | Medical Parole | No public data. | The Parole Board did not respond to FAMM’s 2021 data request. | ||||
| Montana | Medical Parole | 6 | 4 | 67% | FY 2025 | Board of Pardons and Parole Decisions by Appearance Type (Fiscal Years 2018 – 2025) | |
| Nebraska | Medical Parole | No public data. | A 2026 state Office of Inspector General report found that “as many as half who died [in Nebraska Department of Correctional Services custody] appear to have been eligible for medical parole at the time,” but the report does not include numbers of applications, hearings, grants, or release. | ||||
| Nevada | Residential Confinement | 0 | 2019-2020 | FAMM reported that a news account in 2021 reported that there were zero releases to Residential Confinement for medical reasons in 2019 and 2020. | |||
| New Hampshire | Medical Parole | No public data. | The Parole Board did not provide data in response to FAMM’s 2021 data request. | ||||
| New Jersey | Compassionate Release | 36 | 8 | 22% | FY 2021-FY 2025 | Between 2011 and 2020, the Parole Board granted Medical Parole (New Jersey’s compassionate release law prior to February 1, 2021) to just 10 people, according to 2021 correspondence between FAMM and the State Parole Board. | Reporting published in the New Jersey Monitor, DiFilippo (2025) |
| New Mexico | Medical and Geriatric Parole | 11 | 1 | 9% | FY 2020 | In FY 2020, there were 11 individuals who applied for Medical and Geriatric Parole; the Parole Board granted one application, denied nine applications, and “discharged” one because the individual died. | Adult Parole Board, as reported to FAMM in 2021 |
| New York | Medical Parole | 61 | 40 | 66% | 2023 | Of the 61 applications, there were only 56 hearings held. Within this legislative report, the Department reports a 71% grant rate based on 39 people approved out of the 55 people who met with the Board of Parole. | Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Medical Parole Legislative Report, 2023 |
| North Carolina | Medical Release | 6 | 4 | 67% | 2024 | Reporting published in The Charlotte Post, (2026) and NC Health News, Crumpler (2025) | |
| North Dakota | Medical Parole | No public data. | The Parole Board did not provide data in response to FAMM’s 2020 or 2021 data request. | ||||
| Ohio | Judicial Release, Release as if on Parole, and Medical Release (“old law”) | No public data. | Medical Release is available for people sentenced under “old law” for crimes committed before July 1, 1996 (Ohio Sentencing Commission). | The Governor’s office did not provide data in response to FAMM’s 2020 or 2021 data request regarding Release as if on Parole. | |||
| Oklahoma | Medical Parole | 6 | 2021-2025 | Since the most recent Medical Parole law went into effect on November 1, 2021, Medical Paroles have decreased dramatically: there have only been six approval since the law went into effect, compared to to 30 approvals in the 3 years prior to the new law. | Reporting published in Oklahoma Watch, Hallman (2025) | ||
| Oregon | Early Medical Release | 11 | 0 | 0% | 2020 | In 2020, of the 11 individuals for whom release was requested: five were statutorily ineligible; four did not meet medical criteria; two were “handled outside the process;” and no one was granted Early Parole Release. | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 |
| Pennsylvania | Deferment of Sentence Due to Serious or Terminal Illness | 83 | 49 | 59% | 2016-2024 | This is often referred to as “compassionate release.” From 2015 to 2025, 54 people have been granted release, while 11 died waiting for a hearing (Rep. Kajewski, 2025). | Reporting published in City and State, Cann (2024) |
| Rhode Island | Medical Parole | 3 | 2 | 67% | 2020 | In 2020, three people applied for Medical Parole and two were granted, while the third person died before waiting for a hearing. | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 |
| South Carolina | Parole for Terminally Ill, Geriatric, or Permanently Disabled Inmates | 38 | 17 | 45% | 2010-2025 | Of the 38 people referred since the law passed in 2010, seven never had a hearing (one of whom died before a hearing) and 14 were rejected (two of whom died prior to a second hearing). | Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, 2025 Report to the Sentencing Reform Oversight Committee |
| South Dakota | Compassionate Parole | 3 | 3 | 100% | 2018-2020 | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 | |
| Tennessee | Medical Furlough | 20 | 3 | 15% | 2020 | Department of Correction, as reported to FAMM in 2021 | |
| Texas | Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision (MRIS) and Emergency Medical Reprieve | 61 | 2020 | The Parole Board did not report the number of referrals for MRIS, 61 of whom were approved. The Parole Board did report that of 68 requests for Emergency Medical Repreive in 2020, one was recommended to the Governor and was denied. In 2019, he Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments referred 200 cases to the Parole Board for consideration for MRIS, the Board approved 76 requests. In 2019, the Board of Parole received 132 requests for Emergency Medical Repreive, none of which they recommended to the Governor. | Texas House Research Organization, 2020 | ||
| Utah | Compassionate Release | No public data. | The Parole Board publishes a searchable database of all the hearings held, including those for Compassionate Release. | ||||
| Vermont | Medical Parole | No public data. | |||||
| Virginia | Conditional Release Based on Terminal Illness and Executive Medical Clemency | 4 | 2019-2020 | In 2019 and 2020, the Governor granted Executive Medical Clemency to four people. There is no data available on the number of people released on Conditional Release. | Office of the Governor, List of Pardons, Commutations, Reprieves and Other Forms of Clemency, 2020 and 2021 | ||
| Washington | Extraordinary Medical Placement | 74 | 8 | 11% | CY 2024 | Of the 56 denials, 50 did not meet medical criteira, six did not meet “public safety criteria,” three died before consideration or placement, and five withdrew their applications. | Department of Corrections, 2025 Extraordinary Medical Placement Program Report |
| West Virginia | No medical parole. | ||||||
| Wisconsin | Sentence Modification Due to Extraordinary Health Condition or Age and Parole Due to Extraordinary Circumstances (“old law”) | 138 | 19 | 14% | 2020 | Parole Due to Extraordinary Circumstances is available only for people sentenced under “old law” for crimes committed before December 31, 1999 (based on infromation published by FAMM). The Department’s Division of Community Corrections did not report how many people applied for Parole Due to Extraordinary Circumstances in 2020, but they did report that there were no approvals. | Department of Corrections, as reported to FAMM in 2021 |
| Wyoming | Medical Parole | 2 | 1 | 50% | 2020 | Board of Parole, as reported to FAMM in 2021 | |
Table definitions
- Type
- Medical parole — the early release of people on the grounds of medical condition — goes by many names, including compassionate release, medical release, special needs parole, and more.
- Number of hearings or applications
- Most states proivde the number of medical parole applications in a given time frame. However, in Alaska and California, we were only able to obtain the number of medical parole hearings held, and, in the Federal system, we relied on the number of motions for Compassionate Release filed in federal courts.
- Number granted
- This is the number of people granted medical parole in the given time period. It does not necessarily mean all of these people were released, as it is possible that some died before they could actually be released from prison.
- Grant rate
- The grant rate is calculated as the percentage of people granted medical parole out of the number of medical parole applicants. In Alaska and California, this rate is calculated as the number of people granted medical parole out of the total number of medical parole hearings held. In the Federal system, this rate is calculated as the number of motions granted out of the total Compassionate Release motions filed.
- Year
- Some states report medical parole data by calendar year, fiscal year, or even longer periods of time. When possible, we presented the most recent and comprehensive data.
- Notes
- Additional details about the jurisdiction’s medical parole law or criteria, and additional useful data points.
