Alabama parole board changes squeak through House committee

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Leigh Gwathney, left, Chair of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Darryl Littleton, center, an associate member of the board, listen to testimony during a hearing in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. A House committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would make changes to the size of the board and its appointment powers. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama House committee narrowly approved a bill on Wednesday that changes some of the rules pertaining to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles amid some final minute dramatics that required one lawmaker to return to the meeting to cast his vote.
The House Judiciary Committee approved SB 324, sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, by a vote of 8-7. Initially, the measure would have failed because of a tied vote, but Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, the committee chair, requested that someone reach out to Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer, to return to the committee after leaving to cast the tie-breaking vote that ultimately led to bill getting approved by the committee.
'I got some work to do,' Chambliss said in an interview after the vote. 'I will work with all the interested parties. You know, I have seen bills that are further apart than this one. We sit down and talk through it all and see what everyone can live with.'
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The vote came a day after the Senate voted to cut funding for the board in the final version of the General Fund budget and made its remaining funding contingent on updating the parole guidelines which are used to determine whether an applicant should be granted parole.
SB 324 increases the number of people who can serve on the parole board from three to five; moves the power to appoint the chair from the governor to the board itself and establishes guidelines for the board when they set the next parole hearing for applicants who are denied.
The original version of the bill Chambliss filed remained largely intact when it was approved by the Senate last week except for a single amendment proposed by Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, pertaining to the timeline for nominating a candidate to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The board members, regardless of whether their terms have expired or not, will be appointed by the Governor's Office based on a list of names from a nominating committee comprising the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
SB 324 also lays out timelines for parole hearings. For those serving up to 20 years in prison, the parole board may set the next hearing no more than two years from the time that the person's parole application was denied.
Those serving a life sentence after committing one or more violent Class A felonies are permitted another hearing within 10 years of being denied. People who are considered for parole for medical reasons may receive another parole hearing within 180 days after the parole board rejects their application.
Others are eligible for another parole hearing with five years of getting rejected for parole by the Board.
Chambliss introduced SB 324 Wednesday by referring to a meeting of the Joint Prison Oversight Committee in October 2023 in which Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles Chair Leigh Gwathney answered lawmakers' questions in ways they considered meandering or unresponsive.
Chambliss characterized the meeting as a 'little bit of a fiasco.'
'The law says that those guidelines are to be updated periodically,' Chambliss said to the committee during the meeting Wednesday. 'And the law says that they have to do that. Well, they have not done that. As a matter of fact, they only adhere to the guidelines 20% of the time.'
According to data obtained from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, the conformance rate, the percentage that the parole board's decisions match with Bureau's recommendations based on the guidelines, is between 22%-27%.
The Alabama Attorney General's Office publicly stated that it opposed the legislation.
'Needless to say, the makeup of the parole board is a very delicate thing,' said Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for the Alabama Attorney General's Office. 'As we know from recent history, it has a very direct implications on public safety.'
She also referred to the General Fund budget.
'There was an amendment added to the General Fund budget that would address the guidelines issue that was added by the Senate that says the Board doesn't get their money until they do what he (Chambliss) is talking about on the guidelines,' Robertson said. 'I am sure they have gotten the message when it comes to that.'
Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Cobb supported the legislation.
'We want the state to stop wasting money holding individuals who have proven they are no longer the same person when they were convicted,' she said. 'And have either through their health, or their prison record, demonstrated they would be almost impossible to reoffend.'
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, a longtime critic of the board, was among the strongest supporters of the legislation.
'This is about the ability to have oversight over the system that could potentially go out of control either way,' he said in an interview following the meeting. 'Set aside how you feel about releases, and who is getting out and who is not, just look at how broken the process is.'
Other committee members voted against the bill in the hopes that others would have more time to provide feedback.
'I do think this is the makings of a good bill,' said Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne. 'I do think this is something I am very eager to hopefully get together to get more people on and have a conversation. I do think we have to bring more people to the table, specifically VOCAL (Victims of Crime and Leniency).'
VOCAL opposed the legislation.
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