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Executive Director’s Corner: Leola Harris, a dying woman DENIED parole.

January 11, 2023/13 Comments/in Criminal Justice, News, The Executive Director's Corner/by Admin

As the Executive Director of Redemption Earned, I attended our first medical parole hearing before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. This week, the Parole Board denied medical parole to a dying woman, a Redemption Earned client, Leola Harris.

This denial by the Parole Board was a blatant violation of its role in the criminal justice system. The Alabama code sets out the high standard an incarcerated person must meet to be awarded medical parole.

According to the testimony of Felicia Hall-Grace, Ms. Harris’s severe health conditions warrant parole. Ms. Grace is a registered nurse who is also a nursing instructor and case manager with 28 years of nursing experience. Ms. Harris was convicted of the murder of a homeless man she had befriended who entered her home. Even though she had no criminal history, not even a parking ticket, Ms. Harris was sentenced to 35 years in prison. She has served 19 years of that sentence as a model prisoner. The Parole Board has limited prospective parolees to 4 minutes if they have no legal representation or advocate and 6 minutes if they are fortunate enough to have an advocate. After listening to 6 minutes of testimony and argument from two Redemption Earned staff attorneys and an expert witness, with no family present in opposition, the two Parole Board members denied parole and set her re-hearing off for a maximum of five years.

Leola Harris, Sentence Date 11/24/2003

Medical testimony revealed that this is a death sentence as Ms. Harris suffers from:

  • End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
  • Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM)
  • Hypertension (HTN)
  • AV Fistula and Dialysis

The Alabama Department of Corrections, based on Ms. Harris’s severe life-threatening medical conditions, her multitude of disabilities, and lengthy stays in the infirmary, certified her to the Parole Board as meeting the statutory criteria for medical parole.

Even though Redemption Earned was fortunate to secure a nursing home placement for Ms. Harris, the Parole Board ignored the certification.  The Parole Board’s responsibility is to ask and answer two questions: Has the prospective parolee been adequately punished and is the prospective parolee a threat to public safety? Any reasonable person would conclude that 19 years is a sufficient sentence for a 71-year-old woman who is dying in prison. No one would say that a dying woman, who is confined to a wheelchair, who cannot perform basic personal body functions unassisted, is a danger to the public. This Parole Board not only failed Ms. Leola Harris, but they also failed the taxpayers of the State of Alabama. This denial of medical parole to a wheelchair- bound, weak, and dying woman is an injustice that the people of Alabama ought not accept or be forced to pay for.

-Sue Bell Cobb

Executive Director of Redemption Earned and Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice

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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

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UAB’s Pre-Law Program making an impact outside of the classroom

June 8, 2022/0 Comments/in Criminal Justice, Pre-Law/by Admin

 

by Chris McCauley

Students who participate in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Pre-Law Program in the Department of Criminal Justice have access to pre-law advising, an academic minor, and activities designed to build pre-professional competencies, including legal research and critical thinking.

According to Brandon Blankenship, J.D., assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and director of the Pre-Law Program, these skills—along with many others—consistently prove to be valuable when practicing law or working in careers in law.

In addition to the core competencies, Blankenship also emphasizes community engagement and restorative leadership with his pre-law students.

“[We’re] proactively building community,” said Blankenship.

For Blankenship, community-building often begins with engaging middle and high school students in hands-on learning experiences.

One of the longest-standing experiences available through the Pre-Law Program is Journey to Attorney, an innovative summer camp for rising high school juniors and seniors that includes mock mediation and mock trials. During the camp, UAB pre-law students support camp participants as they retry a historic case (the last camp focused on the Scottsboro Nine case). Attendees dig into the facts of the case and aim to achieve a just result—an effort that often requires 12-hour days and intensive preparation. CLICK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

Source: UAB College of Arts and Sciences – Student News

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