No Second Chances: Inside Alabama’s Parole System

we will begin this morning with the parole hearing for Timothy glass who is serving 25 years for the conviction of robbery in the first degree you may have 25 years to spend a lifetime effect we will now have the parole here in for Terry Killingsworth so like 14 years is a really long time are you for him to be released we will now have the hearing for Greg oyington set his volume on fire he burned his home delivery in the matter of parole for Timothy glass it is the unanimous decision of the board that parole will be denied at this time Terry Killingsworth denied at this time Greg Boyington parole will be denied at this time in the matter of Jackie Burton's application for a pardon that application will be fully denied in Alabama people who are incarcerated aren't allowed to speak at their own parole hearings so the Goins family is traveling to Montgomery to testify on behalf of their son Alonzo Goins Jr whose second parole hearing is tomorrow I believe that is going to be the favorable right outcome in terms of him being released and his parole being granted but Gordon's chances are slim parole rates in Alabama are at an unprecedented low so far this year less than 10 percent of people have been granted parole [Music] how do you guys want the lineup to be when it comes to speaking if it's only two people and um since you spoke last time I want to speak this time hopefully it goes quick and simple like the last time but we need a different result this time we're going to have a difference if we're definitely going to have a different result this time Goins was 19 when he was arrested for a string of three robberies he was originally sentenced to five years for one of those but was later convicted and sentenced to an additional 20 years for the other two he served 15 years and he's now 34 years old can you recall the day that you found out that he was arrested I know what heartache feel like now when somebody say my heart is just tearing apart when that happened I physically it felt like my heart was just tearing apart nobody was harmed I mean we're talking about a first offense 15 years it's been hard it really has and um I've been going through a lot of health issues but I don't tell Alonzo I don't want him worrying about me he doesn't know he know I'm a diabetic but he don't know that I'm in the fourth stage of kidney failure I refuse to tell him because I don't want him to worry about me it's tough me even to ask this question but what happens should he be denied parole tomorrow I don't even want to think about it not happening he always said Mom it's reality you know I might come home and I might not he said I know you tell me to trust in God and I do and I keep praying I keep doing I keep praying I keep doing he said when my time when he's going to answer my prayers Alonzo talk to me about what happened 15 years ago you got a good family it was beating me in the right direction I grew up in the church so I'll get right from wrong I do you know because y'all don't want to fit in not just get in with the wrong crowd so I don't blame nobody I blame myself but if I can turn back the hands of time I do things too when it comes to your your records since you've been in the 15 years would you say that you've done everything that you can and your record is is clean I might have a handful I'm a blessing Barber I took classes for uh computer technology I took a small business course oh anger management crime build drug rehabilitation class and I don't even do drugs you did have a chance to speak on your behalf what would you tell the parole board that's what I'm gonna I know I messed up but I was young and I wasn't paying some fancy just give me the opportunity to show you that I am a different person I just want to take a chance Second Chances in Alabama are even harder to come by if you're black this year 93 of black potential parolees have been denied state representative Chris England has been trying to establish oversight on the parole board and hold them accountable what's going on with paroles in the state of Alabama it's a comprehensive problem it is a generation's worth of failure if you look at the numbers it also appears that they take race into account too it's almost like if you're black and you're male you're going to be denied but not only are you going to be denied they're going to set your case off for the longest period of time to keep you from coming back for them for five years it just bothers me when I hear these folks go out here and say this is all about Public Safety when over-incarcerating people has nothing to do with Public Safety do I want to let everybody out of prison hell no no I'm not stupid there are people who need to be incarcerated but it ain't everybody right right it ain't ninety percent of the folks that go before them there's no accountability and there's no appeal process it could be a purely racist system and there's nothing that we can do about it so the system is broken it is absolutely broken I'll follow the metro in heaven we thank you Father for London spirit will come together and we right now want to say thank you right now in advance for what's getting ready to happen amen we are about to enter the parole hearing and once we go in there'll be people advocating for the release of the offender and there'll be people on the victim side advocating for the offender not to be released that's good I feel really good about it I mean he served a substantial amount of time there can be one two three four cases at a time just depends on the board but you will look underneath next all right you only get two minutes to speak okay all right there is a timer up there that will run down you get those two minutes whenever you hear it start beeping that that's how you know that you don't need to talk anymore okay we've been here since early morning and it's now mid-afternoon we've heard several people go up and testify on behalf of their loved ones seeking pardon and parole and all of the people that have been up there the board is only granted one pardon and no paroles that we've seen the parole board didn't always Grant so few paroles in the past four years the number of paroles they've granted has gone down 81 percent the dramatic decline began in 2018 after a man named Jimmy Spencer was granted parole and eight months later went on to murder three people including seven-year-old Colton Ryan Lee it was one of the worst things I had ever been through losing my child he was such a wonderful wonderful child and he has missed every day this was two months before he passed and this was actually a rainbow over our house after he had passed after the unfortunate tragedy and you recognize that the person responsible was once in prison when you found that out what was going through your head when we finally found out who actually did it it I felt so much anger how much it had you known about the process of Pardons and paroles I didn't know anything this process I've learned a little bit more if someone says hey look at what Jimmy Spencer did so we shouldn't be letting anybody out there's a lot of mixed feelings um uh I know there's a lot of people you know upset because it has caused stricter policies um and a lot of people are not getting out and families are feeling like well this case is caused my family member to have to stay longer but I honestly feel if you are there to serve a certain amount of time you need to be serving that time with indifference of the crime Alabama's parole board does have a tool in its guidelines that's supposed to determine whether a potential parolee is likely to reoffend it's called a risk assessment but the board can disregard it Lynn head the former chair of the board used this assessment to Grant Spencer's parole she says she did so because he had a low to medium risk of reoffending and because no one else had any objections she still stands by using the tool in the decision-making process there is no one capable of predicting with any accuracy what a human being is going to do so you have to rely on those tools just because of that incident doesn't mean that those guidelines were wrong it's a horrible tragedy just like it would have been if he had committed it and had not been incarcerated before he committed it why is it that they're denying so many people parole politics I believe that the governor has made it clear to the board that if they wanted to sit on that board they will deny parole to Violent offenders head says she was in a meeting in 2018 where Alabama's Governor put pressure on the board to stop granting parole to Violent offenders I've nicknamed it myself the smackdown meeting in that meeting I described to the governor um you know the guidelines and the national national standards related to how you decide a parole case we went through it a couple of times and then she banged her hand on the table and said but don't you think these people need to pay the price eight months after that meeting the director of the parole board was reassigned to report directly to the governor head later resigned we asked the governor's office about head's allegations it said it couldn't confirm them spokesperson did say that Governor Ivey does not have a vote on individual parole cases but she is confident that the parole board shares her overriding concern for Public Safety what would you say are some of the biggest differences between when you were chairman of the board and the board now based on the data the current board is not following the guidelines they're denying almost everybody they are putting a Paramount importance on the details of the crime for which they were convicted yes we looked at the offense but we also looked at what if any changes has this in individual undergone as far as maturity character education and and and behavior what does the state of Alabama stand to gain by having so many people in prison they get to build new ones Alabama's prisons are operating at over 160 percent capacity the state legislature recently set aside 400 million dollars in covert relief funds to build two Mega prisons to house their overflowing prison population something head says could be fixed by letting more people out on parole we've been following the case of a Young Man by the name of Alonzo Goins Jr and we wanted you to take a look at um his file and see if you would have granted him parole if you were on the board okay let's just assume he has a moderate risk assessment score I would vote to Grant him parole because of the family support um the availability of of goodread re-entry Services the fact that he was 19 when he committed these offenses I he shouldn't even be judged by these offenses with nobody being harmed I probably would Grant him parole based on all of that Taylor Slater remember about your phones that's right we will now have the hearing for Alonso Goins who is serving 20 years for two convictions of robbery in the first degree now my Lonzo going his mother Alonso has a job lined up and I don't do this but I'm begging you please it's been 15 years and I know he's remorseful so I'm just asking would you please give him a second chance thank you [Music] I want to try to see if I can show that I appreciate the love but at the same time we got to embrace reform he has all these training and forklift driving and being certified to operate Machinery asphalt all of these skill sets all of these classes that he's taken it has to mean something and you have the key in your hand he's been there he has shown remorse I know I have to go but please I beg of you please consider [Music] oh Sarah Green look at Alabama Attorney General's office we are opposed to releasing parole my information showed that he's only sort of 10 years of the 20-year sentencing coach by the court that's half of what the court imposed upon him during his incarceration our records indicate that he is incurred 11 disciplinary infractions we believe that he is not a suitable candidate for parole and we would ask that she denied for the maximum amount [Music] this time the board is going to vote and then we will announce our decisions [Music] their decision is followed me a question in the matter of parole for Alonzo Goins it is the unanimous decision of the board that parole will be denied at this time on the day of Alonzo's hearing no one was granted parole throughout September the board only granted 33 paroles disregarding their own guidelines which recommended it for 348 people Vice news obtained Goins board action sheet which shows they denied him based on reasons including his quote negative institutional conduct record and the severity of his offense we requested an interview with the parole board several times but they declined shut up I got him it's all political we know what it's about it's about that new prison they want to fill them up it's all political kids all right well um um and um it's it's hard it's hard to understand it's hard to um to grasp what that what they're trying to accomplish but um everybody that was in there with us they did not grow for everybody I need to just stay strong Alonzo please I know it baby I know it I know you've been staying strong for years but please they didn't give a reason if you're doing everything that you've been asked to do or told to do by the Department of Corrections you're eliminating Hope on the part of that individual it doesn't matter if you change your life you got an exemplary record doesn't matter if you become a better person 25 years ago you did this oh and by the way I'm not going to say this out loud but you're black I could have to continue encouraging and tell him he has to believe in the system he's going to get out and be all right even though I just had to tell him the system said no again it would have been better for him to say no parole here been a lot less heartache a whole lot less pain [Music] courage is having the determination to do the right thing even when others don't it takes courage to fight Temptations and struggles of everyday life it takes courage to stand alone even when somebody ain't gonna stand if you're the only one standing it's going to take courage to say hey look I'm gonna do the right thing no matter what anybody else in society doing I'm gonna do what's right Shepherd's fold is a transitional Ministry who helped men getting out of incarceration to help them get back into life to use a structured system in order to help them get back into society that's what we are we're the buffer we're the place where they can make a mistake and those that do complete our program less than 2.7 percent of those people have gone back to prison and that's what we all must do we're going to face our fears face our addictions and face the thing it's going to take courage on our behalf how many beds do you have in this space I have 78 beds and how many of them are taken right now right now I have 28 people living in this facility 28 28 out of 78. out of 78 available [Music] why do you think you have so many empty beds we used to have up to 60 70 people here the pipeline is empty there was a time where we had pages of individuals right now we know that if they're going up for parole chances are they're going to be denied uh 90 of everybody's going UPS getting denied that kills our pipeline do that if that continues will you all be able to stay open nope I have to have 50 people living here to make enough to keep this place open and do you foresee in the near future a time you will be able to sustain this place in the way that you have before no we're gonna fail we're gonna fail I could bear a witness we're going to fail but it's those who get back up with the strength and look back at what they dealt with and take an account of what they did you believe the state of Alabama is interested in giving people a second chance looking at it from where I stand no overall no they have put everything they can in place to make sure they don't meet greet or know anything about the individual all they want to see is a piece of paper with your name on it and what you did their sole purpose is to make sure that person does not get out or get a second chance everybody makes mistakes that's a fact of life you've got people that have that have completed everything that this state has asked them to do is there crimes that go on that need to be punished yes there are yeah most definitely but there needs to be more thought put into how do you rehabilitate that person is the state of Alabama a safer place with almost a 90 percent denial rate absolutely not I'm Michael lermont editor-in-chief of Vice news too often traditional news outlets shy away from the real stories and experiences of those living through Global conflicts not Vice news our reporters are on the ground fearlessly covering the human stories that shape our world you and millions of others can continue to read watch and listen to Vice news for free but we hope you'll consider making a one-time or ongoing contribution of any size advice.com contribute every contribution no matter how big or small helps support the journalism Vice news brings to you every day thank you

Channel: VICE News

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Id: z7ZATazg8Ak

Length: 23min 40sec (1420 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 08 2022