The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted to restrict the use of good behavior incentives to shorten prison sentences, a bill brought in reaction to the slaying of a north Alabama police officer.
Representatives voted 99-1 for the bill seeking to prohibit anyone convicted of manslaughter from qualifying for “good time” incentives. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.
The bill is called the Sergeant Nick Risner Act. It is named after the 40-year-old Sheffield police officer who was killed while pursuing a suspect last year. Risner’s widow watched from the House gallery as lawmakers voted on the bill.
“I’m bringing this bill, so hopefully another family will not have to go through what they did,” said Republican Rep. Phillip Pettus, the sponsor of the bill and a former state trooper.
Brian Lansing Martin is charged with killing Risner, the father of one, and William Mealback Jr. of Cypress Inn, Tennessee. Martin had been released from prison in 2016 after serving a little over three years of a 10-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his father.
Alabama currently allows some inmates sentenced to 15 or fewer years in prison to qualify for good behavior incentives. Good time is not given for Class A felonies such as murder and rape. The bill also would prohibit inmates convicted of manslaughter from qualifying for good time.
“If you kill somebody, you do not get good time,” Pettus said of his bill.
Behavior incentives are commonly used to try to combat prison violence by giving inmates a reason to follow rules.
Pettus said Martin had his good time taken away, but it was later restored to him by a prison official. “Whoever let him out ought to take his place,” Rep. Lynn Greer, a Republican from Rogersville, said.
While the bill had near-unanimous support, a few lawmakers questioned if the problem was with the good time statute or how it was applied in Martin’s case. They asked if it would be short-sighted to make the change.
“I’m just concerned that we are going to take away the hope that those people have, and then where is the incentive for them to behave,” Rep. Charlotte Meadows, a Republican from Montgomery, said.
Pettus responded that inmates convicted of manslaughter would still be eligible for parole. He said the legislation didn’t change anything else in the good time law, beyond making inmates convicted of manslaughter ineligible.
Representatives stood to applaud Risner’s family after the vote.
“Mrs. Risner, you have our respect and our prayers,” House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
