HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow more people in state prison with serious health issues to be granted compassionate release.
The bill heads to the state Senate after passing the House 111-92.
Philadelphia Democratic state Rep. Rick Krajewski says his bill would amend current law to make it more accessible, noting in the past 15 years, only 54 people have been granted compassionate release.
“Everyone wants justice and accountability, but when our pursuit of justice becomes a pursuit of vengeance and we enable cruelty and suffering, we have lost our way,” he said.
Krajewski worked with Republican state Rep. Torren Ecker on a bill that would create a judicial process with input from the victim of the crime, the district attorney, and the Department of Corrections when a medical diagnosis warrants review.
Ecker says the bill would allow someone who is no longer a threat to die with dignity rather than in a prison hospital bed.
“For my conservative friends, there's also a cost to that. There's a cost to them being in a corrections facility, in a hospital bed. In fact, it's pretty high,” Ecker said.
“Longterm care for an individual at DOC's medical facility at SCI Highlands averages $64,000 a year with the Department of Corrections spending over $40 million annually on sick and elderly incarcerated people,” detailed Krajewski.
The bill’s fiscal note estimates savings of $15 million per year.
But Chester County Republican state Rep. John Lawrence said he couldn’t support the bill as the wording is too broad.
“With no definition of what a life threatening illness is in the bill, it's up to defense attorneys and judges to define what it means,” he said.