Analysis of US Compassionate and Geriatric Release Laws: Applying a Human Rights Framework to Global Prison Health Tina Maschi 1 & George Leibowitz 2 & Joanne Rees 3 & Lauren Pappacena 1 # Springer International Publishing 2016 Abstract The purpose of this paper was to analyze the com- passionate and geriatric release laws in the USA and the role of advanced age and/or illness. In order to identify existing state and federal laws, a search of the LexisNexis legal data- base was conducted. Keyword search terms were used: com- passionate release, medical parole, geriatric prison release, elderly (or seriously ill), and prison. A content analysis of 47 identified federal and state laws was conducted using induc- tive and deductive analysis strategies. Of the possible 52 fed- eral and state corrections systems (50 states, Washington D.C, and Federal Corrections), 47 laws for incarcerated people, or their families, to petition for early release based on advanced age or health were found. Six major categories of these laws were identified: (1) physical/mental health, (2) age, (3) path- way to release decision, (4) post-release support, (5) nature of the crime (personal and criminal justice history), and (6) stage of review. Recommendations are offered, for increasing social work policy and practice expertise, and advancing the rights and needs of this population in the context of promoting hu- man rights, aging, health, and criminal justice reform. Keywords Older adults . Criminal justice . Compassionate and geriatric release laws . Content analysis . Human rights . Social work . Forensic social work Introduction Correctional systems across the globe are struggling with man- aging the rapidly growing aging and seriously ill population. In the USA, approximately 200,000 adults aged 55 and above are behind bars, many of which have a complex array of health, social service, and legal needs that all too often go unaddressed prior to and after their release from prison (Human Rights Watch [HRW] 2012). The large number of older people in prison is partially attributed to the passage of stricter sentencing laws, such as BThree Strikes You’re Out^ and the subsequent mandatory longer prison terms (American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] 2012). These restrictive policies have created a human-made disaster in which many sentenced to long-term prison sentences will reach old age while in prison or shortly after their release. Social work, interdisciplinary scholars, and human rights advocates view the current crisis as a human rights issue that impact the rights and needs of the aging and seriously ill population (Byock 2002; HRW 2012). Compassionate and Geriatric Release Laws Beginning in the 1970s, there has been a growing awareness among lawmakers and other professionals, especially in the USA, of the need for compassionate and geriatric policies to address the growing aging and health crisis in prisons. Currently, medical parole and compassionate release laws, and programs for mostly nonviolent, terminally ill incarcerat- ed people have been implemented in an effort to transition aging and/or serious or terminally ill incarcerated people to community-based care (Chiu 2010; Williams et al. 2011). Most of the social work and interdisciplinary scholarly litera- ture in law and medicine in the USA has focused on compas- sionate release laws (Ferri 2013; Jefferson-Bullock 2015; Green 2014; Williams et al. 2011). The authors of these * Tina Maschi tmaschi@fordham.edu 1 Graduate School of Social Service, The Justia Agenda, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA 2 School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University, State University of New York, Stony Brook, USA 3 Department of Social Work, Long Island University, Brooklyn, USA J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work DOI 10.1007/s41134-016-0021-0