News/Commentary

Alabama legislators greenlight bill reducing incentives that shorten criminals’ prison stays

April 12, 2023 | | Print Article

When it comes to politics, every action brings a reaction, and nowhere was this more apparent than when Democrats started pushing the abortion issue all the way up to the moment of birth and beyond, resulting in Republicans establishing more restrictions.

Another issue that is beginning to draw countermeasures is the growing number of criminal-friendly prosecutors who frequently share a common denominator — they are backed financially either directly or indirectly by left-wing billionaire George Soros. In addition to foregoing bail, woke prosecutors are reducing charges in many cases, if not dropping charges altogether — the end result is more criminals on the streets.

Lawmakers in Alabama are looking to address that concern with a bill that reduces the use of good behavior incentives to shorten prison sentences, meaning inmates could see more time behind bars, according to Fox News.

“The Alabama House of Representatives voted 79-24 for the Senate-passed proposal that now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature,” the network reported. “Supporters said the legislation is needed to rein in the use of generous sentence incentives. But the approval came over concerns of some lawmakers who questioned if it would worsen Alabama’s ongoing prison crisis by exacerbating the existing overcrowding.”

Then again, while emptying prisons relieves overcrowding, it may not be the safest option for residents.

The legislation that passed on Tuesday is named after slain Bibb County Deputy Brad Johnson, Fox News noted, explaining that Johnson “was killed in 2022 by a man law enforcement officials said was released after serving four years of a 10-year theft sentence, despite escaping from a prison work release center.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“Deputy Brad Johnson was murdered serving his community,” said Republican state Rep. Russell Bedsole, who is also a captain and jail commander with the Shelby County sheriff’s office.

Lawmakers were motivated to reform the use of the incentives known as “good time” credits as a result of Johnson’s death.

More from Fox News:

Alabama law allows certain inmates, sentenced to 15 or fewer years, to earn sentence reductions for good behavior. The legislation would reduce the amount of “good time” credit inmates can receive and also says inmates who commit certain offenses while in prison, including escape, would be disqualified from early release. Eligible inmates can now earn sentence reductions of 20 to 75 days — depending upon their classification — for every 30 days of good behavior. The bill would reduce that to five to 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

While the incentives can add up to large sentence reductions, most Alabama inmates are ineligible to receive them because of the length of their sentences. The Alabama Department of Corrections said last month that 2,588 of the prison system’s 19,852 inmates in custody, or 13%, were qualified to earn correctional incentive time.

 

Another deputy shot in the head by Austin Hall the same day Hall killed Johnson, Deputy Chris Poole, watched from the House viewing gallery on Tuesday as the bill was passed, according to the article.

He said he was “grateful to see this bill passed and know that Brad Johnson is going to save lives.”

Tom Tillison
Latest posts by Tom Tillison (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles