50 or older? Served at least 20 years in the State Penitentiary or other jail? Then you could apply for early release.

A new bill being considered by the State House of Representatives, HB 1866, would allow inmates to apply for early release provided they're 50 or older, and have served a minimum of 20 years in prison.

Co-sponsored by ten West Side Representatives, the bill says research shows the over 50 and 55 prison population has reportedly grown by 1,400 percent in the U.S. since 1981, by 2030 one-third of all prison inmates will be over 55, and it costs twice as much to incarcerate such people.

For that reason, they say people who've served at least 20 years or more of a sentence and are over 50 should be allowed to apply for early release. The bill says each application will be stringently reviewed, and take into account the crime itself, the prisoner's rehabilitation and behavior behind bars, and their mental and psychological fitness to be released into the general public.

The bill is headed for committee, no word on if it will pass. Opponents are already lining up against it, saying there are inmates who do not deserve early release, for posing a danger to the public.

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