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Alabama Pardons and Paroles leaders call for expanding inmate rehab program

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Leaders of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles called on lawmakers Tuesday to consider funding the expansion of an inmate rehabilitation program, a program that, among its around 300 graduates, has so far eliminated recidivism.

“We’re close to 300 graduates so far, and of the 300 graduates that have been sent there on parole, I’m proud to say today we have not had a single person go back to prison,” said ABPP Director Cam Ward, during a meeting of the Reentry Alabama Commission.

“That’s what we want, we want to replicate that, but of course, it requires financial resources. But it works.”

Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles Director Cam Ward speaks during a meeting of the Alabama Reentry Commission at the State House in Montgomery, Oct. 29.

Today, the rehabilitation program operates at just one location known as the PREP Center in Perry County. The most recent graduating class was 60 inmates. The program offers substance abuse treatment and job training courses.

Many of those entering the program are recently paroled inmates, said Daryl Littleton, member of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, which he said helps provide guidance and safety nets for those who may have been incarcerated for long periods of time.

While the existing program has proven effective in its two-year history at reducing recidivism, for the state to reach a goal of cutting recidivism in half by 2030, it would need to be expanded.

“We appreciate what the bureau is doing as far as helping us grow the possibility of giving people an opportunity on parole through the PREP program, and I’m going to step out on a limb: it needs to grow,” Littleton said.

“We see a lot of individuals that need assistance, and the one way we can give them that assistance is through preparation prior to them actually hitting the streets.”

Ward said first he would like to be able to have graduating classes of 100, and later, open two additional rehabilitation centers under the program.

Specific funding requests were not discussed Tuesday, but Ward said the existing facility in Perry County costs “about the same as probably a small prison would be” to operate.

Given that the PREP Center was established in what was formerly a traditional prison, Ward suggested, as a cost-saving measure, that additional rehabilitation centers could be opened in Staton and Elmore Correctional facilities, which are set to close shortly after the completion of Alabama’s two new 4,000-bed prisons.

Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles member Daryl Littleton speaks during a meeting of the Alabama Reentry Commission at the State House in Montgomery, Oct. 29.

The expansion of the rehabilitation program, Ward argued, could also dramatically increase the state’s parole grant rate, which last year was among the lowest rates in the country, with the board releasing just 8% of eligible inmates on parole.

While the 8% parole grant rate last year, a record low for Alabama, was preceded by four years of consecutive decline, it’s risen dramatically this year to 21% per the latest data. Ward attributed that increase directly to the Prep Center.

“I personally believe part of the reason you’re seeing the (parole grant rate) increase from 8% is they’re sending almost all of them to that PREP center,” he said.

The calls for state lawmakers to consider expanding the inmate rehabilitation program were made as part of the larger push by the bureau to see Alabama’s recidivism rate reduced by 50% by 2030.

Outside of expanding the program, commission members also heard from Jonathan McNair, communications specialist for the Alabama Department of Workforce Development, on what barriers to employment exist for those leaving the prison system.

Those barriers, McNair said, weren’t different from traditional barriers to employment seen by the general population, but they were exacerbated.

“Every company is going to prefer to have somebody that has a driver’s license, that’s everybody, so we’re dealing with a population where a much larger portion don’t have that,” McNair said.

The state has already made some headway on making sure those leaving prison do so with the documents often necessary for employment, with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency now in the process of implementing a pilot program at one correctional facility to issue every Alabamian leaving prison an ID.

The Alabama Department of Correction is also now issuing inmates leaving prison Social Security cards at a rate of “nearly 100%,” ADOC Deputy Commissioner Jeff Williams previously said. And ADOC Commissioner John Hamm said Tuesday his agency had just made an agreement with the Alabama Department of Health to hand out birth certificates.

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