Life without parole — or is it?

• Newly proposed legislation would allow the New York State parole board to consider granting parole to inmates over the age of 55, who served at least 15 years in prison
• Senators say allowing those individuals to be eligible for parole would save the state money, without endangering public safety
• The bill will now be considered by the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Codes Committee before it goes to the floor of both chambers for a vote

"When a judge hands down a sentence to someone who has committed a crime, that sentence should have meaning," said Erie County Legislature Minority Leader Joe Lorigo. 

Newly proposed legislation would allow the New York State parole board to consider granting parole to inmates over the age of 55, who served at least 15 years in prison. Lorigo strongly opposes the bill.

"If you're giving people the ability to get out at the age of 55, the preventative measure of harsh sentences start to lose that meaning," he said. 

According to state Senator Brad Hoylman, who sponsored the bill, allowing those individuals to be eligible for parole would save the state money, without endangering public safety. Cindi McEachon, executive director at Peaceprints, says the bill wouldn't apply to someone newly incarcerated, but people that are in their 70s and 80s.

"These are people that probably went in as a teenager or very early young adult and have been in here for decade that will be eligible," said McEachon. 

McEachon explains over the last two years, prisons and prisoner advocacy groups have seen an influx in older returning citizens that come through the programs.

"I think they made it 55 because research and data is showing that's the tipping point when aliments start to affect individuals who are incarcerated," she said. 

The director adds that the older an inmate is, or the more aliments they have, the more it costs a prison to provide health care. Also, regardless of age, McEachon says when a person is considered for parole they are supervised. However, Lorigo believes what “kind” of crime the individual is in prison for originally should be considered. 

"But to say that someone who was sent to life in prison, now has a shot at getting out at age 55, is wrong," said Lorigo. 

The bill will now be considered by the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Codes Committee before it goes to the floor of both chambers for a vote. It hasn’t yet been placed on the agenda of either committee, which won’t meet for a few weeks.