>>> YESTERDAY, WE TOLD YOU ABOUT THE GROWING NUMBER OF ELDERLY INMATES SERVING TIME IN ILLINOIS PRISONS.

MORE THAN 4000 INCARCERATED PEOPLE MAKING UP 14% OF THE STATE'S PRISON POPULATION.

AS THEY AGE, THE MEDICAL NEEDS INCREASE, AND THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS IS ALREADY FOUR YEARS INTO A CONSENT DECREE DICTATING THAT THE STATE DO A BETTER JOB OF PROVIDING CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE WHO ARE INCARCERATED.

ADVOCATES SAY THAT'S JUST ONE MORE REASON THEY BELIEVE ELDERLY INMATES DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE OUTSIDE OF PRISON.

IN THE SECOND AND FINAL PART OF OUR SERIES ON ELDER PAROLE.

AFTER DECADES IN PRISON, YUSUF MADYUN HAS BEEN HOME FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS.

>> I'M STILL TRYING TO NAVIGATE MY PHONE.

>> TODAY, HE SPENDS HIS TIME TALKING WITH THE YOUNG MEN IN THE GREEN REENTRY COHORT AT THE INNER-CITY MUSLIM ACTION NETWORK, OR I.M.A.N., WHERE THEY RESPECTFULLY CALL THEM SHEIK YUSUF.

>> WHEN I COME OVER HERE AND ATTEMPT TO GUIDE YOUNGSTERS AWAY FROM THE PATH THAT I TOOK, AWAY FROM A PATH THAT LEADS TO INCARCERATED.

>> MADYUN WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON THROUGH A PROCESS THE MAJORITY OF ILLINOIS STATE PRISONERS DON'T HAVE A CHANCE AT, PAROLE.

IN 1967, HE WAS JOSEPH HURST, SENTENCED TO DEATH ROW FOR KILLING A CHILD PLEASE OFFICER , A CRIME HE SAYS LITTLE ABOUT TODAY.

>> BUT I DON'T GOING TO IS TO TRY TO DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED .

MEANT TO JUSTIFY MY END OF THINGS.

BECAUSE THE PERSON THAT WAS KILLED IS NOT HERE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES.

I CAN CONTRIBUTE AS MUCH AS I CAN TO THE GOOD OF SOCIETY.

AND HOPEFULLY, SOCIETY WILL ALLOW ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO THAT.

>> IN 1972, HE WAS RESENTENCED TO 100 TO 300 YEARS IN PRISON.

THAT WAS BEFORE THE STATE ELIMINATED PAROLE IN 1978, MEANING, IN TIME, HE COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR IT.

HE WASN'T RELEASED ON PAROLE UNTIL 2021.

IT'S A MOVE THE CHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OPPOSED.

>> SINCE ITS CONCEPTION, WE EJECT TO ANY PAROLE FOR CONVICTED , A CONVERT THE PERSON WHO KILLED A CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER.

>> MADYUN DID SPEND NEARLY 54 YEARS IN PRISON, AND HE SAYS THEY TOOK THEIR TOLL.

>> SO WHEN YOU SEE HIS HAND, HIS HAND IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF NOT HAVING BEEN GIVEN IMMEDIATE CARE WHEN THE STROKE HAD HIT ME.

>> MADYUN SAYS THAT'S JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF THE POOR HEALTHCARE HE AND OTHER OLDER INCARCERATED PEOPLE RECEIVE FROM THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS.

>> I WAS MADE TO WEAR A CATHETER FOR 18 MONTHS.

BEFORE THE PROSTATE, THE ENLARGED PROSTATE, WAS TAKEN CARE OF.

>> JENNY SOBLE RUNS THE NONPROFIT ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT.

SHE ARGUES CARING FOR THE ELDERLY IN PRISON IS A HEAVY BURDEN.

>> CHOLESTEROL, DIABETES, HYPERTENSION.

THEY'RE ALSO TAKING CARE OF PEOPLE WITH CANCER, WITH CARDIAC DISEASE , WITH DEMENTIA, ALZHEIMER'S.

PRISON OFFICIALS SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT THAT.

THEY NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE DOORWAYS AND CELLS.

>> A BURDEN THAT A RECENT COURT-APPOINTED MONITORS REPORT SAYS THE STATE ISN'T SHOULDERING .

IN SHORT, THE NEARLY 400 PAGE REPORT SAYS, QUOTE, AT THE END OF YEAR FOUR, THE LACK OF PROGRESS TOWARDS COMPLIANCE WITH THE CONSENT DECREE CAN BE SUMMARIZED AS A FAILURE BY THE STATE TO ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATIONS OF AN ADEQUATE MEDICAL PROGRAM IN THE IDOC.

EVEN IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST, IDOC TOLD WTTW NEWS THAT IT, QUOTE, DOES NOT MAINTAIN OR POSSESS RECORDS RESPONSIVE TO YOUR REQUEST ABOUT POLICIES SPECIFIC TO OLDER PRISONERS.

>> I, RIGHT NOW, REPRESENT PEOPLE WHO SPEND THEIR ENTIRE DAYS SITTING IN WHEELCHAIRS IN THE SAME SPACE , IN THE SAME SPOT , IN THE INFIRMARY UNIT WHERE THEY LIVE, BECAUSE THERE'S NOT SUFFICIENT CARE TO MAKE SURE THAT THEIR BODIES ARE MOVED WITH ANY REGULARITY.

>> WHAT'S MORE, SOBEL ARGUES THAT CARING FOR THE ELDERLY IN PRISON IS EXTRAORDINARILY EXPENSIVE, A COST THAT FALLS TO TAXPAYERS.

>> ELDERLY PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS COST 2 TO 5 TIMES AS MUCH TO CARE FOR AS NONELDERLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE.

>> IT'S ONE OF SEVERAL REASONS ADVOCATES LIKE BILL RYAN ARE CALLING FOR A PAROLE SYSTEM FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE IN PRISON.

>> IT'S NOT A FREE GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD , BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION.

YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT YOUR BEHAVIOR HAS CHANGED.

YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU'RE NO LONGER A THREAT TO ANYBODY .

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE PRISONERS , THE VICTIM'S FAMILIES, HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE TO THIS, AND THEY, THEY, THEIR VOICE WILL BE HEARD.

>> BUT SOME VICTIMS ADVOCATES ARGUE THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES AS SERIOUS AS MURDER SHOULD NEVER HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF PRISON, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HAVE KILLED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.

>> IN OUR MIND, SOMEONE WHO KILLED A CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER IN THE LINE OF DUTY DOES NOT WARRANT A SECOND CHANCE.

THEY FORFEITED THAT RIGHT.

>> BUT SOBLE AND ADVOCATES ARGUE OLDER INMATES ARE FAR LESS LIKELY TO RE-COMMIT A CRIME , AND THAT CHANGE IS NECESSARY.

>> IF NOTHING CHANGES, IF THERE'S NO SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN THE WAY THAT WE THINK ABOUT OUR CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM AND OUR PRISON SYSTEM , THE ELDERLY POPULATION IN THIS STATE AND IN THIS COUNTRY WILL JUST CONTINUE TO GROW AND GROW AND GROW .

AND WITH THAT, THE COST OF OUR PRISON SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO GROW.

>> THEY SAY MANY INCARCERATED PEOPLE , INCLUDING YUSUF MADYUN, CAN AND HAVE CHANGED , WHETHER OR NOT THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS WILL CHANGE AS WELL.

>> SO THE SPECIFICS THAT ARE NECESSARY TO RESTORE CITIZENSHIP .

THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS IS GUILTY OF NOT PROVIDING THOSE THINGS THAT WOULD TRULY RESTORE CITIZENSHIP.

>> ONE MEASURE THAT ALLOWS FOR EARLY RELEASE FOR ELDERLY INMATES IS THE JOE COLEMAN MEDICAL RELEASE ACT, WHICH WENT INTO EFFECT IN THE WINTER OF 2022.

IT ALLOWS PEOPLE WHO ARE MEDICALLY INCAPACITATED OR TERMINALLY ILL TO SEEK EARLY RELEASE FROM THE ILLINOIS PRISONER REVIEW BOARD.

A RECORD FROM THE ILLINOIS