On Tuesday, the Alabama Senate passed Senate Bill 324, sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, which would restructure Alabama’s controversial Board of Pardons and Paroles. The bill previously passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in April.
Chambliss’ legislation aims to expand the parole board from three members to five, and remove the power to appoint the board’s chair from the governor, instead having the board itself appoint the chair from among its own members. While the governor would still retain the authority to appoint board members, the bill would require that no member begin serving their term until they are first confirmed by the Senate.
The bill also creates a schedule for future parole considerations when the board denies parole to an incarcerated person, a provision which appears to stem directly from the board’s current lack of conformance with its own guidelines. In 2019, the board’s rate of granting parole dropped significantly, and despite experiencing modest increases in the years since, the current parole grant rate of 23 percent remains significantly lower than the board’s own average recommended grant rate of 80 percent.
SB324 would require the board to reconsider the parole for inmates serving a sentence of 20 years or less for a nonviolent offense no more than two years after their initial parole request was denied. That timeline is set to no more than 10 years for inmates “serving a life sentence for one or more violent Class A felony offenses” and to no more than 180 days in cases of medical parole. In all other cases, the board would be required to reconsider an incarcerated person’s parole no more than 5 years after their initial parole request was denied.
Before the bill passed in the Senate, a small friendly amendment introduced by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-District 24, was accepted. The amendment simply added clarifying language and changed the starting date of a board member’s term from July 1 to April 1.
SB324 ultimately passed by a vote of 16-8. The bill will now be sent to the House, with the end of the 2025 legislative session quickly approaching.
