New Jersey’s sentencing panel wants to expand compassionate release eligibility to inmates with 18 months or less to live, citing deaths caused by lengthy court proceedings.
WEBDESK – HAJIRA IRFAN – NJNEWSLINE
For someone told they may have only months to live, every day matters. But in New Jersey, terminally ill inmates can spend much of that limited time waiting for the legal system to decide whether they can leave prison. A state sentencing panel now wants to change that.
The Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission is recommending that New Jersey expand its compassionate release law to allow inmates with a life expectancy of 18 months or less to seek early release. Under the current system, prisoners generally must have a prognosis of six months or less to qualify.
The proposed change comes after the commission found that some inmates who appear eligible never receive a final decision because they die before their cases make it through the legal process.
Six months may not be enough time
New Jersey created its compassionate release law in 2019 following an earlier recommendation from the sentencing commission. The law allows prisoners with qualifying terminal conditions to ask a Superior Court judge for release.
The process starts when the Department of Corrections issues a certificate confirming that an inmate meets the medical eligibility requirements. Although that step can happen relatively quickly, the case still has to move through the court system.
Prosecutors and victims or their families are given an opportunity to respond. If an objection is raised, a hearing is required before a judge can make a final decision.
Those protections remain an important part of the process, but the commission found that they can take precious time when someone is already expected to have only months to live.
23 applicants died before their cases were completed
The commission’s data illustrates how serious the timing problem can be.
Over the last six years, the Department of Corrections issued 46 certificates of eligibility for compassionate release. The commission said 23 of those applicants died before their cases were completed.
The problem was still evident in 2025. That year, the department determined that 14 people were eligible for compassionate release, but six died before their cases were resolved in court.
Christopher Porrino, a former New Jersey attorney general who chairs the commission, said the experience highlighted a disconnect between the law’s intended purpose and the reality of getting a case through the system.
Rather than removing the existing safeguards, the commission is proposing a larger window in which terminally ill inmates can begin the process.
Why the commission wants an 18-month window
Under the proposal, a prisoner with a prognosis of 18 months or less could apply for compassionate release.
The commission argues that this would give courts, prosecutors, victims and families more time to complete the review without eliminating the protections already built into the law.
The proposed change would not guarantee release. Inmates would still have to go through the existing legal process, and prosecutors and victims would continue to have an opportunity to object.
The goal is to start that process earlier, before a prisoner’s health deteriorates to the point where there may not be enough time for the courts to reach a decision.
New Jersey has one of the shortest thresholds
The commission also examined compassionate-release standards across the country.
Its report found that seven states allow compassionate release for prisoners with a prognosis of 12 months or less. Four states use an 18-month threshold, while two states allow applications when an inmate has 24 months or less to live.
New Jersey’s current six-month standard is stricter than those thresholds. According to the commission, only Kansas has a shorter requirement, at one month.
That comparison helped support the panel’s argument that moving New Jersey to an 18-month threshold would not represent an extreme expansion of compassionate release.
The proposal now moves to state leaders
The recommendation will now be considered by Gov. Mikie Sherrill and legislative leaders. Attorney General Jen Davenport, whose approval was required before the commission could release its recommendations, also supported the proposed change.
Davenport described the adjustment as a reasonable step that would give the compassionate-release system enough time to work as intended.
For terminally ill inmates, however, the issue is more than a change to a legal deadline—it is about whether the system can reach a decision while there is still time for that decision to matter.
The difference between six months and 18 months could be more than a legal technicality. For some terminally ill inmates, it could determine whether they ever get the chance to spend their final days outside prison. The commission’s recommendation now puts a difficult question before New Jersey’s leaders: should the law give the courts more time to act before it is simply too late?
