OP-ED: Compassionate Release Saves Money
By Catherine Sevcenko and Len M. Nichols
The holiday season is a time for gathering with loved ones, reflecting on what is needed most, and retracing the roots of our holidays by finding hope in darkness. Compassionate release from prison is a perfect example.
A year ago, about this time, a miracle took place: a judge in Texas, who had never granted a compassionate release motion, let Vanessa Blanco go home to care for her mother, who has cancer and was the sole caregiver for her daughter, who is in elementary school. Cancer and chemotherapy had made it difficult for Ms. Blanco’s mother to stand long enough to prepare food for her granddaughter, who had to learn to fend for herself. The judge said that the new guidelines for compassionate release implemented a month earlier, were designed for Ms. Blanco’s situation.
A year later, Ms. Blanco is working and can care for her mother and daughter. The alternatives were nursing home and foster care, respectively. She plans to train as a sterile processing technician. Because of her successful reentry into her community, her probation officer has lifted some of her reporting requirements early. She is rebuilding her family and contributing to her community.
However, Ms. Blanco’s early release from prison is more than a feel-good story; it has a quantifiable societal benefit.
The prison Ms. Blanco was in costs $31,484 per inmate per year; Ms. Blanco now pays her own rent and buys her own food. Nursing homes in Texas cost Medicaid approximately $43,000 per year, so the federal and state governments save that by having Ms. Blanco at home to care for her mother. Foster care costs at least $30,000 per child per year, and the usual outcomes of going into and out of that system compared to living with parents and grandparents, in terms of future earnings, not to mention avoiding homelessness, drug use, and crime, suggest that averting foster care saved an additional $178,000 over a lifetime. Compassionate release was good for the Blancos, their hometown, Texas, and America.
We are affiliated with The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, which is committed to the long-term work of ending the incarceration of women and girls through economic development, community organizing, and decarceration through clemency and compassionate release. Sadly, we are 0 for 2 in getting women in federal prison compassionate release in 2024. Although the Supreme Court has said that judges should consider the person as they are on the day of resentencing – not who they were when they committed their transgressions – many cannot leave the past behind. The U.S. Code says that people should lose their liberty no longer than necessary to serve the interests of society. Keeping elderly and ill people locked up makes no sense; it undermines the well-being of communities.
After considering her motion for a year, a judge in Kansas acknowledged that Connie Edwards presented “a tragic case” and that his decision was a “close call,” but he denied her compassionate release. Ms. Edwards is in her 70s and suffers from an extensive list of chronic illnesses and conditions, which include appendiceal and breast cancer. She currently suffers from an adrenal mass, uncontrolled hypertension, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, new-onset atrial fibrillation (“AFib”), chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (“COPD”), and is confined to a wheelchair. Her judge admitted, “The inadequate medical care Ms. Edwards describes in her papers troubles the court.” Ms. Edwards would get better health care and be able to manage her various conditions more effectively outside of prison.
Letting people care for elderly and ill family members is the humane thing to do, but it also makes good policy sense. President Biden has laudably commuted the sentences of 1,500 people placed on home confinement during Covid, but there are still 12,000 clemency applications on his desk. He should grant the petitions from people who are elderly and ill because that is the right thing to do and because it will save taxpayers money. If the incoming Trump Administration is serious about curbing government waste, then decarceration of the elderly, ill, and their caregiver children would be an excellent place to start.
Catherine Sevcenko is the Senior Counsel for The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. She founded the Charlotte Ray Freedom Project, which pairs teams of law students with women in federal prison to prepare compassionate release motions.
Len M. Nichols is a health economist and professor emeritus at George Mason University who works on collaborative financing of public goods, such as selective decarceration and other social determinants of health.