Lawmakers blast the parole board chairman over low approval rates

Leigh Gwathney, chairman of the Alabama parole board, faced tough questions Tuesday from lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Prison Oversight Committee about the parole board’s low rates that were inconsistent with its own guidelines.

Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, chairman of the committee, expressed frustration with Gwathney several times during Tuesday’s hearing, expecting her to be able to answer the questions he posed to her in January.

“Madam Speaker, you said you would answer the questions that day we were in your office,” Chambliss asked Gwathney. “That’s what you said, so what’s going on from the time you said you’d answer the questions until today – ignoring it? How else could we interpret it? It’s been months.”

As of 2019, the number of asylum seekers released on parole has been at a steeply declining rate, reaching a low of just 1 to 3 percent in a few months. Although approval ratings have recently risen into the teens and low twenties, Gwathney remains one of the board’s most loyal members. Lawmakers said she personally voted in favor of granting parole only 8 percent of the time.

The parole board’s own guidelines suggest that 70 to 80 percent of asylum seekers, who the commission says are released monthly, should be released. Only about 30 percent of the time does the board adhere to its own guidelines. In July 2024, according to the last available data, the board met its own guidelines in only 1 in 4 cases.

Chambliss said members met with Gwathney in January to gather information to better understand the situation and determine if the guidelines need further revision or if the board may need more oversight.

“The agency says they meet these criteria, and almost three-quarters of the time the board says it doesn’t matter if they meet these criteria, we’re not going to parole,” Chambliss said. “It seems that one of the two needs to be adapted to reality. And I don’t know which one. I just look at it and try to understand it. You set the rules, the Board sets the rules, these are called parole guidelines. I find it difficult to understand that you stick to your own rules.’

Gwathney argued that she was not trying to dodge the committee’s questions, but was trying to make sure she understood them in order to provide the right answers – which only fueled Chambliss’ anger.

“At our meeting in January, this group asked six or seven questions,” Chambliss said. ‘You said you would answer those questions, your counsel wrote those questions down. I want to have the answers to those questions by the end of November.”

Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, argued during the hearing that the problem is with the guidelines, not the board. He cited a number of candidates convicted of murder who came before the board and who should have been released on parole under the guidelines. He highlighted that one man convicted of murder in 2015 could have already been released if parole guidelines had been followed.

“If there is a case where someone commits a murder and there is an increased risk of offending, and the guidelines still say they need to get out, I want you to do exactly what you are doing to ensure they get that process go through. ,” said Simpson.

He also argued that some offenders should serve their full sentence rather than being given the opportunity for parole, saying it is less about whether the individual will reoffend and more about serving time as punishment for the original crime.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, has introduced numerous bills to reform Alabama’s parole system, including board oversight, and said Gwathney inadvertently advocated for supervision during her presentation.

“What’s even more ridiculous is that today she said she would change the scoring sheet in favor of the applicants to help them get out, and it only managed to reach 8 percent,” England said after the meeting to the media. “So how screws up the process, or the guidelines, that you have to change them to get to 8 percent, as if it’s something to be happy and excited about, is ridiculous.”