Alabama House passes bill to cut back ‘good time’ incentives for inmates

On Tuesday, the Alabama House of Representatives voted to pass legislation that would decrease the amount of time inmates of Alabama’s prisons can get reduced from their sentences for good behavior while incarcerated. It also further limits which prisoners are eligible for good time incentives.

Senate Bill 1 (SB1) – the Deputy Brad Johnson Act – is sponsored by State Sen. April Weaver. The legislation was carried in the House by State Rep. Russell Bedsole.

SB1 is titled in remembrance of Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Johnson – who was gunned down by a dangerous felon released by the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) on good time.

Bedsole – a Shelby County Deputy – said that passage of SB1 would make Alabama communities safer. “We know that we can’t totally solve crime in our communities. Just incarceration alone is not the answer.”

SB1 reduces the number of reductions in sentences served that a prisoner can earn for good behavior, further limits the number of prisoners eligible for good time incentives, and requires ADOC to make reports on the application of good time incentives.

“The reporting will come back to the legislature,” Bedsole explained. “We are not putting a mandate on them to go out and buy new reporting software.”

House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said that the abuses in the system occurred during the previous ADOC leadership.

“It is not fair to hold the current leadership responsible for the failings of the past leadership,” Daniels said.

State Rep. Phillip Pettus told Bedsole, “I appreciate what you have done on this. I hope that we don’t have another picture up here of another law enforcement officer up here.”

State Rep. John Rogers called the bill “Overkill.”

Rogers said the real problem is the lack of rehabilitation of prisoners in ADOC custody.

“You have countries all over the world that rehabilitate prisoners, but we do not do it here in Alabama,” Rogers said. “Why would you punish the entire system? I hope that you pull this bill.”

“You have got one guard for every 200 prisoners,” Rogers said. “We have had four women get pregnant in prison in a women’s prison. How does a woman get pregnant in all women’s prison?”

“We need new prisons, but you have to have money to pay guards a decent wage,” Rogers said.

Bedsole said, “Did you know that a person who commits a murder in prison can still get good time?”

Rep. Christopher England said, “For 100 and some years, Democrats controlled the Legislature. You know one thing that Democrats absolutely screwed up? Prisons and justice. Then Republicans got in there. For six years, we created class D felonies – everybody doesn’t like that now – Community corrections, drug courts, and we worked on releasing prisoners. You know what happened? Crime went down, and the number of prisoners went down. We had a horrible tragedy happen in Marshall County (the Jimmy Spencer slayings of three people while on parole). In November 2019, we reformed the parole system. Now we aren’t letting anybody out. The new Republicans that are here have completely unraveled how we deal with prisons. The prison population has also skyrocketed. You know what also happened: crime skyrocketed. Now it has gotten to the opposite extreme where we don’t let anybody out. The parole board is only giving parole to ten percent of prisoners eligible for parole.”

“You know what else has happened – crime has gone up,” England said. “We need all the space and resources we can get, and we are wasting it on people who are no danger to the community.”

England said that releasing prisoners on parole where they are under supervision is better than waiting for the end of their sentence and then releasing them with no supervision requirements.

“Over 90% of the people that go into the prison system get out,” England said. “Would you rather them get out with supervision or with no supervision?”

Rep. A.J. McCampbell said, “As a former law enforcement officer, we recognize that every day we are putting our lives on the line. I hate what happened to Officer Johnson. I really do.”

“We have got a lot of calamity and failure of our whole (prison) system,” McCampbell continued. “We don’t have any real solutions.”

“It is unreal how many people have been denied,” McCampbell said. “Parole is supposed to be at a time where we have an opportunity to look at people while they are out in the community.”

“The mistreatment that they receive in these institutions dehumanizes these people,” said Rep. Mary Moore.

Bedsole said that SB1, “Revises our good time statute that has been in place since 1980. We are changing the amount of good time days we are offering. We are lowering them.”

After a lengthy debate, the House of Representatives passed SB1. As it has already passed the Senate, it now has gone to the Governor’s office for her consideration.

According to the synopsis, SB1 would, “Reduce the amount of correctional incentive time a prisoner receives; to require a prisoner to remain in a certain classification for a longer period of time before moving up to a higher classification; to provide for additional circumstances in which a prisoner may be required to forfeit his or her correctional incentive time; and to require the Department of Corrections to provide annual reports to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Attorney General regarding correctional incentive time.

Thursday will be day 10 of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. The Alabama Constitution limits the Legislature to no more than thirty legislative days during a regular session.

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