Students, family members challenge Alabama lawmakers over parole reform

In the hallways of the Alabama State House on Tuesday, people were asking why the state’s parole board hasn’t been fixed.

“So now we have a parole board that is denying… the folks that come up. I want to know why we are paying people not to do a job? That’s what my problem is,” said Callie Greer. Greer’s brother has been in prison since the late 1970s, she said, and she also spent time behind bars.

About 60 people from various organizations showed up Tuesday, including a class of students from Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, for the Alabamians for Fair Justice Lobby Day to talk to lawmakers about the state’s parole board.

According to Alabamians for Fair Justice, Alabama is one of two states that doesn’t allow inmates to attend their own hearing.

“So much so they’re not in tune with this job,” said Greer, “that they’re denying dead folks.”

She was talking about Fredrick Bishop. Bishop, who was 55 and from Lineville, came up for parole in March of 2023, and two out of the three members at the time denied his release. But, Bishop had died 10 days earlier.

Currently, inmates in Alabama can’t come to their hearings. If they have an attorney or someone speaking on their behalf, that person can present a short, pre-recorded video statement from the person.

Advocates planned to talk to lawmakers about HB 33 and SB312, introduced by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, and Sen. Will Barfoot, R-District 25. The bill would allow incarcerated people to attend their own parole hearings.

Several people took the podium during a conversation before people went to directly speak to their local representatives.

Latasha Williams, whose son is in prison, was denied parole recently and set off for five years. He’s been raped and stabbed multiple times while locked up, she said.

“Once he was denied parole, you know, they say, ‘come back in five years.’ There’s a lot that can happen in five years, there’s a lot that can happen in five minutes, five seconds in prison.”

Alabamians for Fair Justice also encouraged attendees to talk to legislators about HB-299, also introduced by England. That bill seeks to give “weighted consideration to the health of an inmate” when deciding parole. It calls for inmates 60 and above who are denied parole to be given a detailed plan on how to improve their chances for their next hearing, which couldn’t be set off for more than two years. It has other provisions for inmates seeking medical parole and medical furlough.

Some of the organizations involved with Alabamians for Fair Justice are the ACLU of Alabama, Alabama Appleseed, Alabama Justice Initiative, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and The Ordinary People Society.

One person who spoke mentioned the case of Robert George, an 85-year-old who was ultimately granted parole after a contentious two-and-a-half hour hearing. The board chairperson, Leigh Gwathney, voted to deny his parole and not hear the case again until George was 90.

Greer also spoke from the podium. She questioned why the three-member parole board gets paid for continuing to deny people’s shot at freedom.

“Who pays them?” She said, with a chorus of “we do” from the crowd.

She continued, “I need somebody to be upset with me… I need some righteous anger.”

“We paying folks not to work.”

Greer said she spent time in a work release center when she was incarcerated and called the system “a form of slavery.” Alabama keeps 40% of inmates’ on work release paychecks. That argument is the subject of a recently filed federal lawsuit, which is pending in court.

She questioned why inmates who are safe enough to work each day for eight hours and returned to prison to sleep each night are then deemed too dangerous to release on parole.

“I’ve been through enough to know when you’re pimping me,” Greer said.