Senate Townsend worked with many dedicated advocates to pass Senate Bill 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 codifies and expands an existing framework for a sentence modification or a “compassionate release” of an incarcerated person.
These modifications are designed to allow for seriously ill and elderly individuals who have served their time and are otherwise meeting their obligations can be eligible for early release.
Specifically, this bill expands the eligibility criteria for compassionate release, permitting individuals who meet the following criteria to apply:
- Individuals who have a serious medical illness or infirmity
- Individuals who are aged 60 or older, who have served at least 15 years of their originally imposed sentence, and who have been “rehabilitated”
- Individuals who have served at least 25 years of their originally imposed sentence and who have been “rehabilitated”
The Superior Court will consider applications for compassionate release and make determinations on sentence modification requests.