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| Alabama inmates win early release |
| By The Birmingham News |
| Published: 12/08/2003 |
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Thanks to Alabama's bulging prisons and bleeding budget, a few drug addicts and thieves are on their way home early. A second panel of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles met for the first time Monday, approving 15 prisoners for parole. The board denied 24 prisoners and continued one hearing. Those approved include a man with a math degree who tutored fellow inmates toward their high school equivalency diplomas, a father of three who got entangled with drugs after his wife died in a car accident and a 29-year-old prisoner whose mother wished the board a Merry Christmas. "Thank you for taking care of him for the time you had him," Emma Locke told the board before it approved parole for her son Damien Locke, who has served 10 years for burglary, robbery and drug possession. Emma Locke and her daughter-in-law drove up from Point Clear near the coast and spent Sunday night in Montgomery in order to speak to the parole board. Prisoners do not attend or speak at their own hearings. "We knew they had a new system and new people ... and we thought it would look bad if no one showed up to support him," Locke said. The majority of prospective parolees are nonviolent and on a "special docket," so called because under normal conditions the prisoners would not yet be considered for parole. Lawsuits against the Department of Corrections and widespread crowding problems forced the state to speed paroles. When voters turned down Gov. Bob Riley's tax proposal in September, the administration announced plans to relieve the prison crisis through early paroles for nonviolent inmates and drug offenders. Soon after, Riley appointed the new panel. They will meet four days a week. The original panel also is hearing cases. With 27,000 prisoners, Alabama's prisons are about double capacity. Officials have said 5,000 to 6,000 prisoners may be released early. There is no set number. Relatives of about half the prospective parolees on last Monday's docket showed up to speak, driving from spots across the state. No victims spoke against release to the new panel, but eventually new members will also consider violent cases in which victims are allowed to testify, said Cynthia Dillard, assistant director of the board. Statewide, the parole board is running a year behind schedule in considering paroles for violent offenders. The delay is caused by a state law requiring victims to be notified. Sometimes the victims have moved, changed names or are difficult to locate, Dillard said. |
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