SB 10 – The Richard “Mouse” Smith Compassionate Release Act

Could ‘compassionate release’ put a dent on the mental illness crisis in America’s prisons?

Roughly 64 percent of inmates in U.S. jails have reported mental health concerns. Within America’s warped healthcare policy landscape, prisons have been the only space where some guarantee of the right to healthcare has remained. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court even declared that state and federal facilities were bound to provide medical care to prisoners under the Eighth Amendment. But as the definition of right to health has only become narrow…

SB 10 – The Richard “Mouse” Smith Compassionate Release Act

In honor of the late Mouse Smith — an exceptional Delaware civil rights activist who passed earlier this year — Senate Bill 10 would codify and expand an existing framework for a sentence modification or a “compassionate release” of an incarcerated person.  Currently, the Delaware Department of Correction (DOC) conducts a review of individuals incarcerated in Delaware every other year to determine if they meet the eligibility requirements for se…