Members of the Joint Prison Oversight Committee raised concerns Wednesday (May 28) over a set of proposed scoring guidelines from the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Some lawmakers cited “corrupted” scoring data on which the guidelines were supposedly developed, as well as what they considered to be omissions in scoring criteria and a lack of oversight.
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The parole board is required by law to update the guidelines every three years, but they are now roughly three years overdue. They score parole-eligible inmates across six categories and the inmates are either recommended for parole, or not. The decision is ultimately at the discretion of the three-member board.
Published earlier this month for public review, the new guidelines would, in some cases, make it harder for inmates to be granted parole, increasing opportunities for inmates to earn marks against them for a variety of infractions. They also would not expand the criteria to increase an inmate’s chances of being granted parole to include things like health, age or participation in work release programs, something Rep. Jim Hill, R-Odenville, cited as a notable omission.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alexander Willis and originally published by the Alabama Daily News.
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