HB40INTRODUCED
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HB40
2DD4KIK-1
By Representative England
RFD: Judiciary
First Read: 04-Feb-25
PFD: 11-Sep-24
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6 2DD4KIK-1 09/03/2024 CNB (L) bm 2024-2430
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PFD: 11-Sep-24
SYNOPSIS:
This bill would create the Criminal Justice
Policy Development Council to oversee the development
and implementation of validated risk and needs
assessments for offenders, parole release guidelines,
and classification guidelines of inmates.
Under existing law, the Board of Pardons and
Paroles uses parole release guidelines as an aid in the
parole process.
This bill would require the Board of Pardons and
Paroles to use parole release guidelines created by the
Criminal Justice Policy Development Council in its
parole decisions.
This bill would provide that if the board
deviates from the parole release guidelines, the board
would be required to state its reasons for the
deviation.
This bill would also provide appellate relief
for inmates who are negatively affected by the board's
deviation from the parole release guidelines.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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AN ACT
Relating to criminal justice; to create the Criminal
Justice Policy Development Council; to specify the membership
of the council; to specify the duties of the council; and to
amend Section 15-22-26, Code of Alabama 1975, to require the
Board of Pardons and Paroles to use certain parole release
guidelines; to revise certain parole proceedings; and to
provide appellate review of certain parole decisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) The Criminal Justice Policy Development
Council is created to oversee the development and
implementation of certain policies and guidelines relating to
offenders in the criminal justice system as provided in this
section.
(b)(1) The council shall be composed of the following
members:
a. The Attorney General or his or her designee.
b. The Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee or his
or her designee.
c. The Chair of the House Judiciary Committee or his or
her designee.
d. A member of the minority party of the Senate
appointed by the Senate Minority Leader.
e. A member of the minority party of the House of
Representatives appointed by the House of Representatives
Minority Leader.
f. The Director of the Legislative Services Agency or
his or her designee .
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his or her designee .
g. The Executive Director of the Alabama Sentencing
Commission or his or her designee .
h. The Commissioner of the Department of Corrections or
his or her designee .
i. The Director of the Board of Pardons and Paroles or
his or her designee .
j. The Executive Director of the Office of Prosecution
Services or his or her designee.
k. A member appointed by Victims of Crime and Leniency,
Incorporated (VOCAL).
(2) The council shall select a chair and a vice chair
at its first meeting, to be held no later than August 1, 2025.
(3) Members of the council shall serve without
compensation, but may be reimbursed for necessary expenses in
attending meetings of the council according to policies and
procedures of their respective appointing authority or
employing agency.
(c)(1) By October 1, 2027, the council shall complete
all of the following:
a. Update the inmate classification system for
implementation by the Department of Corrections.
b. Create and adopt parole guidelines to be implemented
by the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
c. Adopt a validated risk and needs assessment, that
has been created and validated for the Alabama felony offender
population, to be implemented by the Department of Corrections
and the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(2) The council may contract with third parties to
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(2) The council may contract with third parties to
develop and validate the systems, policies, and guidelines
required in subdivision (1).
(d) The council may meet as often as necessary at the
call of the chair or a majority of the members.
(e) Beginning on October 1, 2025, and quarterly
thereafter, the council shall submit a written report to the
Legislature on its progress with the development and
implementation of the systems, policies, and guidelines
required in this section. Upon adoption of each system,
policy, and guideline, the council shall certify to the
Legislature that it has completed that task.
(f)(1) Upon the adoption of the systems, policies, and
guidelines by the council, as provided by this section, the
Department of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Paroles
shall implement the use of the systems, policies, and
guidelines.
(2) Within 60 days of the council's certification to
the Legislature as required in subsection (e), the Department
of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Paroles shall
report to the Legislature in writing how the department and
board have implemented the particular system, policy, or
guideline.
(g) The Legislative Services Agency, the Administrative
Office of Courts, the Department of Corrections, the Board of
Pardons and Paroles, the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency,
and any other entities designated by the council shall provide
assistance to the council as necessary.
(h) The council shall stand dissolved on January 1,
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(h) The council shall stand dissolved on January 1,
2028.
Section 2.Section 15-22-26, Code of Alabama 1975, is
amended to read as follows:
"ยง15-22-26
(a)(1)No prisoner shall be released on parole merely
as a reward for good conduct or efficient performance of
duties assigned in prison, but only if the Board of Pardons
and Paroles is of the opinion that the prisoner meets criteria
and guidelines established by the board The Board of Pardons
and Paroles, by rule, shall establish parole release
guidelines to determine a prisoner'san inmate's fitness for
parole and to ensure public safety.
(2) The parole release guidelines shall serve as an aid
be used by the board in the parole process and shall promote
the use of prison space for the most violent and greatest risk
offenders, while recognizing that the board's paramount duty
is to protect public safety. The guidelines shall be
structured, actuarially based, reviewed every three years by
the board, after a specified open comment period determined by
the board, and posted on the website of the board and include,
but not be limited to, the following:
(3) The parole release guidelines shall assess all of
the following:
(1)a. The prisoner'sinmate's risk to reoffend, based
upon a validated risk and needs assessment , as defined in
Section 12-25-32.
(2)b. Progress by the prisoner and inmate in complying
with the Department of Corrections to Corrections' plan for
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with the Department of Corrections to Corrections' plan for
reentry.
(3)c. Input from the victim or victims, the family of
the victim or victims, prosecutors, and law enforcement
entities.
(4)d. Participation in risk-reduction programs while
incarcerated.
(5)e. Institutional behavior of the prisonerinmate
while incarcerated.
(6)f. Severity of the underlying offense for which the
prisonerinmate was sentenced to incarceration.
g. Any interview or statement of the inmate.
(b) Except as provided in Section 15-22-37, if the
board grants a prisoner parole, the prisoner shall be released
from prison upon the terms and conditions set by the board,
and while released on parole, shall remain in the legal
custody of the warden of the prison from which he or she is
paroled until the expiration of the maximum term specified in
his or her sentence or until he or she is fully pardoned.
(b)(c) The board shall clearly articulate its reasons
for approval or denial of parole for each prisoner, based on
its established guidelines, and shall provide the reasons for
approval or denial If the board deviates from the parole
release guidelines, the board shall provide a detailed written
explanation for the deviation to the prisonerinmate, the
victim, the Department of Corrections, or and, upon written
request submitted to the board, any other interested party
upon written request submitted to the board. The use of
established guidelines for parole consideration shall not
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established guidelines for parole consideration shall not
create a right or expectation by a prisoner to parole release.
Additionally, the articulated reasons for denial of parole
release shall not create a right or expectation for parole
release. The guidelines shall serve as an aid in the parole
decisionmaking process, and the decision concerning parole
release shall be at the complete discretion of the board .
(c) Deviations from the parole release guidelines shall
be subject to appellate review as provided in this subsection.
The board shall provide written notice to the inmate that he
or she has a right to appeal the denial of parole.
(1) Within 30 days of the board denying an inmate
parole, an inmate who is aggrieved by the deviation from the
parole release guidelines may appeal the decision.
(2) The venue for an appeal shall be the Court of
Criminal Appeals.
(3) The decision by the Court of Criminal Appeals shall
be final.
(d) If the board grants an inmate parole, the inmate
shall be released from prison upon the terms and conditions
set by the board and, while released on parole, shall remain
in the legal custody of the warden of the prison from which he
or she is paroled until the expiration of the maximum term
specified in his or her sentence or until he or she is granted
a full pardon."
Section 3. This act shall become effective on June 1,
2025.
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