Only 10% of Alabama Inmates Granted Parole In 2022, a Record Low

According to new data released by the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, the number of incarcerated individuals in Alabama state prisons who were granted parole has reached a new low, with 90% being rejected during the 2022 fiscal year. Alabama’s 3-member parole board reportedly granted parole to 409 individuals and denied it to 3,593 others.

That grant rate has been steadily declining for 4 years, down significantly from the 31% of people incarcerated in Alabama who had been granted parole in the 2019 fiscal year. Some critics argue that the high rate of decline is, in part, due to the board defaulting to a decline of parole requests rather than actually following guidelines.

“We have a parole board that evidently is finding that no one meets whatever standard it has in mind. No one has any hope. We have a despair machine,” says Leah Nelson, a research director at Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, via the AP.

However, many of the supporters of the low parole grant rate argue that the board is acting in the interest of public safety.

“If these folks are upset about the number of inmates paroled, they should come everyday and listen to the horrible crimes they committed. They would understand why these violent offenders should serve their sentence,” Janette Grantham, executive director of VOCAL, a non-profit advocacy group for crime victims, told the AP.