Petitions for Medical Parole for Prisoners Committed to the Custody of the Department

(1) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a prisoner may be eligible for medical parole due to a terminal illness or permanent incapacitation. (2) The superintendent of a correctional facility shall consider a prisoner for medical parole upon receipt of a written petition submitted by: (a) the prisoner; (b) the prisoner's attorney; (c) the prisoner's next of kin; (d) a medical provider of the correctional facility; (e) a member of the Department's staff; or (f) an individual, designated by the prisoner to act on their behalf, but said designated individual shall not be a Department or county prisoner. (3) A petition for medical parole shall be in writing. The Department shall develop a petition form to be made available to the prisoner, or, where the prisoner is not the petitioner, the petitioner. A failure to submit the petition on the Department’s form shall not delay or change the processing of the petition. (4) A proposed medical parole plan may be submitted along with the petition, but, where not submitted by the petitioner, said proposed plan shall be developed by the superintendent prior to transmitting the petition to the Commissioner under to M.G.L. c. 127, § 119A, and 501 CMR 17.04(4). The Parole Board, or designee, will be available to assist prisoners and their advocates in identifying community resources available to them in the event the prisoner is granted medical parole. (5) Petitions must be submitted to the superintendent of the facility where the prisoner is currently incarcerated, unless the prisoner is housed at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, in which case the petition should be submitted to the superintendent of Lemuel Shattuck Hospital for forwarding as appropriate to the superintendent of the facility to which the prisoner is classified. A petition submitted to any other Department employee or facility other than the superintendent of the facility where the prisoner is currently incarcerated shall be forwarded to the appropriate superintendent without delay for review and processing. (6) Upon request, and to the extent permitted under State or Federal medical privacy laws, victims/victims' family members registered under M.G.L. c. 258B, will be provided with a copy of the petition and the most recent clinical assessment of the prisoner prepared by the Department's medical provider.