Nick Reisman is reporting at the New York State of Politics blog a coalition of groups supporting criminal justice reform are advocating for state lawmakers to back a bill that would allow for the release of incarcerated people who are age 55 or older and have served more than 15 years in prison. A letter, urging passage of the measure, was signed by more than 100 groups and sent to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. “Elder parole is a common sense, evidenced-based, and fiscally responsible way to save lives, reunite families and communities, and reinvest millions of taxpayer dollars into much needed public resources,” the letter stated. The measure would not automatically release older people from prison. Instead, it would allow the Parole Board to determine whether an older applicant would be suitable for release. Overall, the groups estimate there were more than 650 deaths among the elder population in state prisons over the last decade. In one case, Valerie Gaiter served decades in prison, earned college degrees and helped train service dogs for wounded veterans, and died at age 61, a full 10 years before she would have been eligible for parole. Read the full story at NewYorkStateofPolitics [dot] com.