Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa (right) speaks with Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill sponsored by England to create oversight of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles and develop parole standards. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved a bill that would create parole guidelines and subject the state’s parole board to oversight after three years of effort by the bill’s sponsor.
HB 40, sponsored by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, passed the committee on an 8-6. Four Republicans joined all four Democrats on the committee in supporting the bill.
England said after the vote that he viewed it as a sign that legislators’ frustrations with the parole board and relatively low parole rates in the state were mounting.
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“I think it is a recognition that the current parole board, and the process itself, is broken,” England said in an interview following the meeting. “Like I said in the presentation today, any board that exists that has openly not followed the law, has worked to change the guidelines without any sort of oversight, and is currently pushing back on any efforts for us to get information about how the work is going, needs some sort of oversight.”
Parole rates have declined dramatically since 2017 when members of the board granted parole to about 54% of applicants. At points since, the rates have fallen to single digits, sometimes as low as 7%, according to an analysis by the ACLU of Alabama in 2023.
They rebounded to slightly more than 20% within the past year.
A new council
England’s bill would create a Criminal Justice Policy Development Council, composed of legislators, agency leaders and victim advocates, that would oversee the creation of a validated risk assessment tool for use by both the Alabama Department of Corrections as well as the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
The council would also create and adopt parole guidelines to be used by the Alabama Board of Pardons to determine parole grants. It will also update the inmate classification system for use by the ADOC.
The bill also mandates that the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles create parole release guidelines to gauge whether someone currently incarcerated can be released from prison without fear of public safety.
“The parole release guidelines shall be used by the board in the parole process and shall promote the use of prison space for the most violent and greatest risk offenders, while recognizing that the board’s paramount duty is to protect public safety,” the bill states.
The guidelines developed by the parole board will be based on the validated risk assessment, as well as input from victims, prosecutors and law enforcement and the parole applicant.
It will also incorporate input from the applicant’s behavior while incarcerated and whether the individual participated in programs while in prison to reduce the risk of reoffending.
The bill requires that the parole board give a reason when they decide whether to grant parole that deviates from the parole release guidelines.
England’s bill allows applicants to appeal the parole board’s decision to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals should they be denied.
England sold his legislation to colleagues by telling them his legislation will offer greater accountability and transparency for the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Growing frustration
Lawmakers from both parties have voiced growing frustration with the Board and the Alabama Department of Corrections in recent years. Family and friends of those incarcerated described violence, extortion attempts and sexual assaults against their loved ones at several Joint Prison Oversight Committee meetings in the past two years.
During one meeting of the Contract Review Committee in June last year, Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, urged ADOC staff to intervene after a constituent reported receiving a video from a prison threatening a sexual assault against their incarcerated child if they did not pay the person.
In the fall 2024, lawmakers asked Leigh Gwathney, chair of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, pointed questions about why her agency has not answered their questions.
England’s bill has faced strong opposition on the House Judiciary Committee in the past. But lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee were more muted on Wednesday. Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa asked England if other states implemented similar measures.
“Some of the language that was put into this bill came from concepts that other states had,” England said.
Another lawmaker, Rep. Bryan Brinyark, R-Northport, asked England if there was any associated cost with the reforms, to which England there were not unless the Council hired a third party to assist with research.
Almond voted against the bill while Brinyark voted in favor of it.
The bill moves to the full House.
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