Background: House Bill 299 would allow for incarcerated people to have their age and medical conditions given weighted consideration when being considered for parole. HB299 also allows those denied parole after reaching age 60 while serving at least 10 years of their sentence to have their petition heard again within two years of the initial decision instead of the maximum of five years that is currently allowed under Alabama law. If the Parole Board denies parole to an elderly or sick incarcerated person, HB299 would provide the incarcerated person with the ability to appeal that decision.
Our Position: We support House Bill 299. With crowding prisons in Alabama, the solution isn’t to build more, it is to allow incarcerated people to safely return to their families and communities. As the prison population in Alabama ages and becomes more ill, the costs to taxpayers add up. HB299 would reduce the resources that must be directed to the Alabama Department of Corrections and allow our taxpayer dollars to go to education, expanding Medicaid, and other investments that make Alabamians safer and healthier.
