Redemption Earned
  • Home
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Donate Now!
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Alabama prisons—it’s getting harder and harder to get out alive.

March 29, 2023/0 Comments/in Alabama Prisons, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Criminal Justice, Pre-Law, Research/by Admin

Leola Harris is 71 years old, wheelchair-bound, suffering from end stage renal disease and
diabetes. She has served over 19 years of a 35-year sentence at Tutwiler prison. On January
10th, she was denied medical parole. The day of her hearing, the Parole Board granted parole
to just 1 of the 46 incarcerated individuals up for a hearing that day. Ms. Harris’s next parole
hearing will be in five years—if she survives that long.

As Leola Harris’s story demonstrates, it’s getting harder and harder to leave Alabama prisons alive.

Leola Harris, Sentence Date 11/24/2003

First, Alabama state officials have made it easier for the state to carry out death sentences. Death warrants no longer expire at midnight and appellate courts no longer review death penalty cases for plain errors. A “top-to-bottom” review of our death penalty protocols resulted in a swift return to business as usual. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court has made it more and more difficult for death sentences to be reversed.

Second, our prisons have become more deadly. The Department of Justice is suing Alabama because our prisons are so violent and dangerous that they violate the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The violence will only worsen if legislation to limit good time credits passes and understaffing continues. Last year 266 people died in Alabama’s prisons—95 were preventable deaths, the result of homicide, suicide, or drug-overdose. ADOC’s response to this crisis is to stop reporting monthly data on prison deaths.

Finally, it’s increasingly harder to get parole and leave prison alive. The 10% grant rate from 2022 was a new low, but the 2023 grant rate hovers near 3%. The numbers are just as dismal for medical parole and furlough grants. In 2020—the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic—only 5 people were granted medical parole. One of those five was my client, Justin Faircloth, who died of cancer within a year of his release. The most recent reports from ADOC show just 8 people in the medical furlough program.

This is in a prison system where 1 in 4 prisoners is over 50 years old. We have thousands more elderly people in our prisons than we did a generation ago.

These are Alabamians like you and me, not just statistics. These are grandparents sitting in violent prisons. Dostoevsky said that “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” Our prisons are brutal and filled with despair—what does this say about our state? The humanitarian crisis in Alabama’s prisons is a call to action. This legislative cycle is a chance to prove our state can be better. We need parole reform. There are people who have spent decades in prison are no longer dangerous. They and their loved ones have been punished enough. We need to offer them hope.

Please tell your legislators to support, House Bill 16. 

Learn more about the bill HERE.

 

 

 

 

Professor Amy Kimpel, serves on Redemption Earned Inc.’s Board of Directors and as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Instruction at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/wordpress-featured-image-2.png 2880 5280 Admin https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Main_Reversed-300x300.png Admin2023-03-29 16:26:432023-03-29 17:54:32Alabama prisons—it’s getting harder and harder to get out alive.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT vs. REDEMPTION & FORGIVENESS

March 7, 2023/0 Comments/in Alabama Prisons, Criminal Justice, The Executive Director's Corner/by Admin

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT–These FIRST two words form the foundation of our criminal justice system. When crimes are committed and a perpetrator is charged, other words become important: presumption of innocence, constitutional rights, and fairness.

In Judge Kechia S. Davis’ courtroom, another word was the theme for the day: forgiveness. Yes, Barbara Ekes, the mother of a wonderful young man, told the judge that she did not want the man who, with his vehicle, killed her son twenty years ago, to spend another day in prison. Mrs. Eckes told Judge Davis that she prayed every day that she would live long enough to see Douglas Layton, Jr. free.

Mrs. Eckes told the Judge and Doug Layton that she wanted him to be released.

She said, “My son was not a saint, but he was a good man. I want Doug released so that he can have an opportunity to live a life that would honor my son and his memory….My son has not been present to help take care of me, but I want Doug to be able to take care of his mother.”


In preparing for the hearing, Mrs. Eckes waivered on whether she wanted to testify in court: her health is not good and getting around is difficult but her primary concern was seeing Doug. She wondered if she had really forgiven him and that if she saw him, would hard feelings overwhelm her. She almost did not come to the courthouse. It was going to be too much. But, she faced her fears; she told her daughter, Samantha, that she would accompany her to the courtroom. Tears flowed, but so did forgiveness.

Douglas told Mrs. Eckes and Samantha, who lost a beloved brother, how sorry he was for causing the death of their son and brother. He asked if he could hug her and Mrs. Ekes acquiesced. Thus, in Judge Davis’ courtroom, a man convicted of murder embraced the mother of his victim, a moment of healing, evidence of the fullness of her forgiveness.

Before the hearing, two mothers embraced: the mother who lost her son forever and the mother who lost her son for two decades. Thanks to Barbara Eckes, who even advocated without success to the Alabama Board of Pardons & Paroles for Doug’s parole, Mrs. Layton will have her son returned.

There is now closure for Mrs. Eckes and freedom for Doug Layton to prove that he, as he said, is not the man he was when he ran over this special young man who had his whole life ahead of him.

Mrs. Eckes’ prayers have now been answered: Doug Layton is redeemed.

Doug Layton is FREE.

 

https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Redemption-earned-deck-2.png 1080 1080 Admin https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Main_Reversed-300x300.png Admin2023-03-07 04:24:032023-03-29 16:47:27CRIME & PUNISHMENT vs. REDEMPTION & FORGIVENESS

Work release program is a WIN for everyone in Alabama

June 20, 2022/0 Comments/in Alabama Prisons, Work Release/by Admin

As a part of the Redemption Earned (RE) initiative, made possible through a grant from the American College of Trial Lawyers, we have set a goal to provide free legal assistance to over 100 interested incarcerated individuals so that they can become eligible for work-release in our first year. We call this initiative the WIN Program because it will be “a win” for everyone in the State of Alabama. This program, with the help of Law Student Volunteers, will seek out detainers that prevent a particular inmate from qualifying for work-release and make every effort to resolve those detainers. More often than not, pending charges were not taken care of by a plea of guilty or a trial because the defendant was in custody in another jurisdiction. The success of this endeavor will lay the foundation for the ongoing mission of RE to represent individuals worthy of parole.

Removing the obstacles that prevent incarcerated people from being classified for work release will be a “win to the fifth degree”. The positive impact from Redemption Earned’s efforts will be seen in the following five areas: (1) Victims of crimes will receive payments towards restitution. (2) The State of Alabama will accrue payments toward fines and court costs. (3) The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) will receive 40% of an average $19,500 per worker (4) Employers in the State of Alabama will benefit from the work of motivated and skilled employees. (5) Our clients will benefit from the opportunity to get outside of the prison walls, network with employers, pay off their fines, costs and restitution, and improve their chances at parole and success at reentry with a possible job upon release.

Removing the obstacles that prevent incarcerated people from being classified for work release will be a “win to the fifth degree.”

The Win Program is the right thing to do for all the right reasons. There are many incarcerated individuals who have unused talent and skill sets that would benefit the needs of employers across the State. These individuals do not pose a risk to the community, rather they will provide a workforce and financial benefit to the State, while simultaneously receiving the advantages of a job and becoming productive members of society.

If you would like to learn more about our WIN program, visit our contact page and reach out to us.

https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/we_all_win-scaled.jpg 2430 2560 Admin https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Main_Reversed-300x300.png Admin2022-06-20 14:32:202022-06-20 14:57:00Work release program is a WIN for everyone in Alabama

WAFF Report: Parole denials skyrocket in Alabama

June 20, 2022/0 Comments/in Alabama Prisons, Criminal Justice/by Admin

by Megan Plotka

More than four years ago, Alabama prisons were overcrowded to the point of being unconstitutional, according to federal court judges. Now, new data shows fewer paroles may be compounding that problem.

In just four years, parole denials in Alabama nearly doubled.

That’s according to data from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons & Paroles compiled by the ACLU. That data shows the parole board denied 46% of applications in 2017. In 2021, 84% of parole applications were denied.

“People in prison rely on parole for hope they look at the parole date and think ok if I make it to my parole date I’m going to take classes and programs and do positive things because I have hope that that matters,” said Carla Crowder the Executive Director of the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE AND VIDEO

Source: WAFF 48 Huntsville

https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/al_parole_pardons.png 420 850 Admin https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Main_Reversed-300x300.png Admin2022-06-20 13:46:242022-06-20 13:46:47WAFF Report: Parole denials skyrocket in Alabama

We Must Provide Worthy Individuals an Opportunity for Parole

October 6, 2021/0 Comments/in Alabama Prisons/by Admin

By Carla Crowder, Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

Something just short of miraculous is happening in Alabama’s prisons. The number of incarcerated young people has been cut in half since 2005. Buried within statistical reports on the Alabama Department of Corrections, the numbers are clear: In 2005, prisons housed 9,827 people ages 15 to 30, or 36% of the ADOC population. By March 2021, that number was 4,537, or 18%. That this decline has impacted people ages 15 to 30, by all counts the age groups most likely to be arrested, is jaw-dropping. Read More >

Source: Alabama Daily News

https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/tired_man_hopeful.png 1162 2069 Admin https://www.redemptionearned.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Main_Reversed-300x300.png Admin2021-10-06 11:12:462022-02-24 20:01:49We Must Provide Worthy Individuals an Opportunity for Parole

Recent Posts

  • Redemption Earned Parole Reform- House Bill 228
  • Alabama prisons—it’s getting harder and harder to get out alive.
  • CRIME & PUNISHMENT vs. REDEMPTION & FORGIVENESS
  • Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.
  • Work release program is a WIN for everyone in Alabama

Recent Comments

  • K.L. on Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.
  • Sharon Harrison on Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.
  • Pattie Hall on Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.
  • Gayle Davis on Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.
  • Cherise Jackson on Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.

Archives

  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • June 2022
  • February 2022
  • October 2021

Categories

  • Alabama Prisons
  • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
  • Criminal Justice
  • Habitual Offender Law
  • News
  • Pre-Law
  • Research
  • The Executive Director's Corner
  • Uncategorized
  • Work Release

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Do you care? If so, please donate!

DONATE

Redemption Earned, Inc
PO Box 2286
Birmingham, AL 35201
info@redemptionearned.org

Privacy Policy

Stay in touch with Redemption Earned. Join our mailing list by entering your email address below:

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

© Copyright 2022 by Redemption Earned | Website by AMP and branding by Here Molly Girl
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
Scroll to top