Updated October 2026 | The Bulldog Law | California and Federal Post-Conviction

Compassionate release is the early release of a prisoner whose serious illness, permanent incapacity, advanced age, or other extraordinary circumstance makes continued imprisonment unjustified. California and the federal system each have a version, and they work differently. In California state prison, Penal Code 1172.2 provides recall and resentencing for a person with a serious and advanced illness with an end-of-life trajectory or a permanent medical incapacitation, through a referral by the prison's medical staff and the CDCR Secretary to the sentencing court, with a presumption in favor of release that the prosecution must overcome by showing an unreasonable risk of danger.

In federal prison, 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A) allows a prisoner who has exhausted a request to the warden to move the sentencing court directly for a sentence reduction on extraordinary and compelling grounds, which since 2023 include terminal and serious illness, age, family caregiving needs, abuse in custody, and unusually long sentences. Two related California options, medical parole and elderly parole, release the person under supervision without ending the sentence.

The Bulldog Law's attorneys handle compassionate release from both directions: for families who have learned that an incarcerated parent or spouse is gravely ill and want to bring them home, and for clients serving long sentences whose age, health, or circumstances have changed. The two systems have different criteria, different procedures, and different timelines, and the first task in every case is identifying which path, or which combination, the client is eligible for. What follows is the California process under Penal Code 1172.2, the federal process under section 3582(c), the related parole options, a comparison of all of them, and what moves these cases quickly. Call (888) 928-1609 or message our team.

California state prison: recall and resentencing under Penal Code 1172.2

Penal Code 1172.2, rewritten by Assembly Bill 960 effective 2023, is California's compassionate release statute, and it replaced a system under which almost no one was released in time. The medical criteria are two. The first is a serious and advanced illness with an end-of-life trajectory, which no longer requires a prognosis of six months or less to live; a progressive terminal condition qualifies at the point where the trajectory is clear. The second is permanent medical incapacitation: a condition that renders the person permanently unable to perform activities of basic daily living and results in the need for 24-hour care, which includes advanced dementia, severe stroke, paralysis, and similar conditions, whether or not the person is dying. A person who meets either criterion is eligible unless sentenced to death or to life without the possibility of parole.

The process begins inside the prison: when the chief medical executive determines that a patient meets a criterion, the case is referred to the CDCR Secretary, who must within 45 days refer it to the sentencing court with a recommendation and the medical documentation. The court must hold a hearing within ten court days of receiving the referral, and the statute creates a presumption in favor of recall and resentencing that may be rebutted only by a finding that the person poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, defined by Penal Code 1170.18(c) as the risk of committing a new super-strike offense. 

If the court grants recall, it resentences the person to time served or to a term that permits immediate release, and the person is released to parole or post-release supervision with a release plan that the court and CDCR coordinate, usually to a family home, a hospice, or a skilled nursing facility. A family or attorney who believes a prisoner meets the criteria can request that the institution's medical staff evaluate the patient for referral, and CDCR publishes the procedure; where the institution delays, a written request to the chief medical executive and the Secretary, with outside medical opinions, is the tool, and our attorneys follow it with a direct application to the court where the referral has been made and the court has not acted. The same statute applies to a person serving a felony sentence in county jail under realignment, with the sheriff or county correctional administrator making the referral.

Federal prison: sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A)

Federal compassionate release is a motion to the sentencing court to reduce a sentence for extraordinary and compelling reasons, under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A). Until 2018 only the Bureau of Prisons could file it, and it rarely did; the First Step Act gave prisoners the right to file their own motion once they have exhausted a request to the warden, meaning the warden denied it or 30 days passed from its receipt without a decision, whichever is earlier. The grounds are defined by the Sentencing Commission's policy statement, section 1B1.13, which was amended in November 2023 to apply to prisoner-filed motions and to expand the categories.

They are a terminal illness; a serious physical or medical condition, a serious functional or cognitive impairment, or deterioration from aging, that substantially diminishes the ability to care for oneself in prison and from which recovery is not expected; a medical condition requiring long-term or specialized care that is not being provided and that risks serious deterioration or death; an infectious disease outbreak or public health emergency to which the person is especially vulnerable; age 65 or older with serious deterioration in health from aging and at least ten years or 75 percent of the sentence served; the death or incapacitation of the caregiver of the prisoner's minor child or of a child incapable of self-care, the incapacitation of a spouse or partner with no other caregiver, or the incapacitation of a parent with no other caregiver; sexual abuse or serious physical abuse by a Bureau employee or contractor, where the misconduct is established; an unusually long sentence, where the person has served at least ten years and a change in the law, other than a non-retroactive guideline amendment, would produce a gross disparity between the sentence imposed and the sentence likely today; and any other circumstance, alone or in combination, of similar gravity. 

A ground is necessary but not sufficient: the court must also consider the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. 3553(a), the nature of the offense, the history of the defendant, the need for deterrence and protection of the public, and must find that the person is not a danger to any person or the community. A successful motion reduces the sentence to time served or to a shorter term, and the court may impose or modify supervised release conditions, including home confinement, to cover the balance. Our page on federal charges covers the system in which these motions are filed.

Medical parole and elderly parole in California

Two California programs release prisoners under supervision without recalling the sentence, and a client who does not meet the compassionate release criteria, or whose referral is delayed, may qualify for one. Medical parole under Penal Code 3550 applies to a state prisoner who is permanently medically incapacitated with a condition that renders them permanently unable to perform activities of basic daily living and results in the need for 24-hour care, and whose release would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety; the Board of Parole Hearings grants it, the person is moved to a licensed medical facility outside prison, and the sentence continues to run on parole, so the person can be returned if the condition improves. People sentenced to death or life without parole and those serving certain sentences are excluded.

Elderly parole under Penal Code 3055 applies to a state prisoner who is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of continuous incarceration, and it gives the person a parole suitability hearing at which the Board must give special consideration to whether age, time served, and diminished physical condition have reduced the risk of future violence, regardless of whether the original sentence would otherwise have made the person eligible; the exclusions are death and life without parole sentences, certain Three Strikes sentences, and specified sex offenses.

Our page on the parole system for life-sentenced inmates covers suitability hearings, and our comparison of parole and probation covers supervision after release. Separately, Penal Code 1172.1 allows CDCR, the district attorney, or the Attorney General to recommend recall and resentencing of any state sentence at any time for reasons unrelated to health, with a presumption in favor of the recommendation, and it is the path for a client whose sentence is excessive rather than whose health has failed.

The options compared

What moves these cases

Compassionate release cases are won or lost on documentation and speed. In California, the referral depends on the prison's medical staff recognizing that the criteria are met, and the most effective step a family can take is to obtain the patient's medical records through the prison's release-of-information process, have an outside physician review them against the statutory criteria, and submit a written request for referral with that opinion attached; our attorneys prepare that package and follow it to the Secretary's office and, once the referral is made, to the court, where we appear at the hearing with the release plan, the family's declarations, and the medical evidence that answers the danger question.

In the federal system, the motion itself is the vehicle, and it must present the extraordinary and compelling reason with medical records, prison medical evaluations, and where possible an outside expert; address every 3553(a) factor and the person's disciplinary and programming record; and propose a concrete release plan with housing, medical care, and family support, because the court's concern about danger is answered by the plan as much as by the record. Timelines vary: a California referral that the institution supports can reach a court order within weeks under the statutory deadlines, while a contested federal motion typically takes two to six months from the warden request to a decision. A denial is not final; a California referral can be renewed as the condition progresses, and a federal motion can be refiled on new facts. Throughout, the sentence structure matters, because a person serving consecutive sentences in two systems or with a detainer needs a plan for each.

Frequently asked questions

What is compassionate release?

Compassionate release is the early release of an incarcerated person because of a serious medical condition, advanced age, or other extraordinary circumstance that makes continued imprisonment unjustified. In California state prison it is called recall and resentencing under Penal Code 1172.2, and it is available to a person with a serious and advanced illness with an end-of-life trajectory or a permanent medical incapacitation. In federal prison it is a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A) for extraordinary and compelling reasons, which include terminal illness, serious medical conditions, age, family circumstances, and abuse in custody.

Who qualifies for compassionate release in California?

Under Penal Code 1172.2, a person serving a state prison sentence who either has a serious and advanced illness with an end-of-life trajectory, or is permanently medically incapacitated with a condition that renders them permanently unable to perform activities of basic daily living and results in the need for 24-hour care, and whose release would not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. People sentenced to death or to life without the possibility of parole are excluded. There is no longer a requirement that the person have fewer than six months to live.

How does the compassionate release process work in California?

The prison's chief medical executive identifies a patient who meets the medical criteria and refers the case to the CDCR Secretary, who must refer it to the sentencing court within 45 days with a recommendation. The court must hold a hearing within ten court days of receiving the referral, there is a presumption in favor of recall that the prosecution can overcome only by showing an unreasonable risk of danger, and if the court grants the petition it resentences the person to time served or to a term that permits release. The person, their family, or their attorney can ask the prison's medical staff to start the referral, and an attorney can press the court to act once the referral is made.

Who qualifies for federal compassionate release?

A federal prisoner who shows extraordinary and compelling reasons under the Sentencing Commission's policy statement, section 1B1.13: a terminal illness; a serious medical condition that substantially diminishes the ability to care for oneself in prison; a medical condition that requires care the prison is not providing; age 65 or older with serious deterioration and at least ten years or 75 percent of the sentence served; the death or incapacitation of the caregiver of the prisoner's minor child, or an incapacitated spouse or parent with no other caregiver; abuse by a prison employee; an unusually long sentence where a change in law has created a gross disparity, after ten years served; and other circumstances of similar gravity. The court must also weigh the sentencing factors and find the person is not a danger.

How do you file for federal compassionate release?

The prisoner first submits a request to the warden. If the warden denies it or 30 days pass without an answer, the prisoner can file a motion in the sentencing court directly, a right created by the First Step Act in 2018; before that, only the Bureau of Prisons could file. The motion sets out the extraordinary and compelling reason with medical records and other evidence, addresses the sentencing factors and danger, and proposes a release plan. The government responds, the court may hold a hearing, and the court can reduce the sentence to time served or to a shorter term, with or without supervised release conditions.

What is the difference between compassionate release, medical parole, and elderly parole?

Compassionate release ends the sentence through the court. Medical parole under Penal Code 3550 moves a permanently medically incapacitated state prisoner to a medical facility outside prison under parole supervision while the sentence continues, and it can be revoked if the person recovers. Elderly parole under Penal Code 3055 gives a state prisoner who is 50 or older and has served at least 20 continuous years a parole hearing at which the Board must give special consideration to age and time served, regardless of the original sentence, except for people sentenced to death, life without parole, or certain sex offenses and Three Strikes terms. A single client may be eligible for more than one.

Related reading from our attorneys

• California's parole system for life-sentenced inmates
• Parole versus probation in California
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A loved one gravely ill in custody? The referral can start today

The Bulldog Law's criminal defense attorneys handle compassionate release referrals and petitions under Penal Code 1172.2, federal motions under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c), medical and elderly parole, and recall and resentencing across California and in the federal courts. Call (888) 928-1609 or reach us online.