Alabama lawmakers pass bill reducing good time incentives for inmates
A bill that would cut the sentence reductions an inmate can get for good behavior headed to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk on Tuesday.
SB1, sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, passed the Alabama House of Representatives on a 79-24 vote.
Supporters said the bill, which stemmed from the death of a Bibb County deputy last June, would address what they consider an overly generous rate of good time.
“This is attacking globally the issues we’ve seen with good time — it is overly generous, it doesn’t allow for the incentivizing of good behavior of an inmate,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in an interview on Tuesday.
The suspect in the shooting was released early from prison despite an earlier escape attempt, which should have led to the cancellation of his good time credits. House Democrats said the bill blamed the good time law for something that appeared to be a mistake by the Alabama Department of Corrections.
“But you’re going to come back and you’re going to modify the good times and punish everybody because of the error — which appears to be the state’s error — and letting that guy out in the first place,” said Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham.
How 'good time' works
Prison inmates currently receive correctional incentive time, also known as good time, based on where they fall in a four-tier system.
At the highest level, an inmate can get 75 days off their sentence for every 30 days served. People who are in the Class II category may earn 40 days for every 30 days served, while those in Class III can earn 20 days. Inmates do not automatically earn good time and must work their way up through the tiers through good conduct.
Weaver’s bill would cut the top tier to 30 days for every 30 days served; 15 days for 30 days served in the second tier, and 5 days for 30 days served in the third tier.
Bibb Country deputy's shooting death cited
Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Johnson was shot and killed while pursuing a motor vehicle last June. Another deputy was wounded. Austin Patrick Hall, charged with murder and attempted murder in the shooting, was released early from Alabama Department of Corrections despite a previous escape attempt, which should have revoked the good-time credits he received.
Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Montevallo, said during the debate that this bill is not “solely about incarceration.” He said that keeping people in prison longer gives the state the ability to educate and rehabilitate inmates, and that the current facilities don’t have that capability.
“We are failing the system if we do not have an opportunity to have these inmates in our facility and a time period in which that we can have enough time to educate and rehabilitate,” he said.
Democrats said cutting good time would cut incentives for the incarcerated to do those things.
“This bill also punishes the good actor,” Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham. “This bill punishes that person — who just may be a model citizen inmate who doesn’t receive infractions, who doesn’t get in trouble.”
'It's not a law problem... It is an incompetence problem'
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, also said that if the current law had been followed, Hall would not have been released.
“It’s not a law problem,” he said. “It is a personnel problem. It is an incompetence problem. It is a Department of Corrections problem.”
England also said cutting incentive time would make the state’s prisons more difficult to manage.
“Can you imagine a facility — overcrowded, no resources, no rehabilitation, everything you’ve done is ignored by the parole board, and you have no hope — do you realize how difficult it is to manage anyone that doesn’t have hope?” he asked.
House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, said the state would have to ask how the suspect was released.
“There’s no way that a person that was supervised by our department, then apprehended locally and transferred from one county facility to another one,” he said. “How did we miss that? Why didn’t that person go back to [Department of Corrections’] custody and their good time being forfeited at that point?”
Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, said the state had done little to provide rehabilitation for inmates.
“The problem is we haven’t been educating nor rehabilitating. We’ve been locking them up and throwing the key away, hoping one day that they’ll forget about it.” Jackson said. “But that’s why we’ve been on the federal law courts — because we hadn’t been doing our job in the state — taking care of our corrections.”
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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama lawmakers pass bill reducing good time incentives for inmates