The term of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles leader who has overseen and defended single-digit parole rates in recent years expires next week.
Whether Leigh Gwathney is reappointed or the high-profile job goes to someone else is to be determined.
Gov. Kay Ivey appointed Gwathney to a six-year term in 2019. It ends this month and per state code. It’s now up to Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter to give Ivey the names of five candidates, including, possibly, Gwathney, from which to make a new appointment.
Such a list hasn’t yet been compiled.
“The lieutenant governor, senate president pro tem, and house speaker meet as a board to submit five names to the governor,” Catherine Gayle Fuller, Ainsworth’s spokesperson, said Monday. “They have not yet met, so any discussion of names that might be submitted is premature.”
Ledbetter’s office offered a similar assessment of the situation.
A comment from Gwathney about whether she wants to stay on the board was not available on Monday.
Once Ivey receives the list of five names, she has 10 days to make a selection, Cam Ward, director of the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, explained. The board is separate from the bureau and is part of the legislative branch of government. It’s the sole legal authority under law to decide who receives parole. The bureau is an executive branch agency.
Though Gwathney’s term officially expires Monday, she can keep serving until a new appointment is made.
Board appointments require confirmation by the Alabama Senate, but appointees can serve pending confirmation. The Legislature meets again in January.
“I do believe in the future, we should look at moving the date of the term to coincide with when the Legislature is in session,” Ward told ADN. “Maybe March, so the Legislature has a chance to have a say in the confirmation of whoever is appointed.”
The rate at which the three-member board grants parole has drawn increased scrutiny in recent years amid the state’s crowded prisons and the board’s resistance to its recommended guidelines, a scoring system for granting or denying parole.
The board’s parole grant rate dipped to single digits earlier in Gwathney’s tenure, from 53% in 2019 to 8% in 2023, decisions she defended by saying the panel wouldn’t be driven by statistics.
The rates increased in 2024 and recently began another decrease. Alabama Daily News reported earlier this month that the ABPP parole grant rate in April was 15% of eligible inmates and its conformance rate to its own guidelines of 19%.
There have been legislative efforts to force guideline changes and more overview of the board, including legislation from Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa.
Last year, Gwathney was at the center of a combative meeting with a panel of lawmakers, some of whom said she didn’t answer questions given months in advance about parole rates and those guidelines. Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, filed legislation this year to reshape the board. While that legislation didn’t become law, Chambliss was able to amend the 2026 General Fund budget to make funding for the board conditional on it revising and adopting new guidelines. It’s required to do every three years, but hasn’t since at least 2019.
Gwathney does have support among some lawmakers, including Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, a prosecutor and member of the House Judiciary Committee.
“I think (Gwathney) has done the best job she could possibly do under the circumstances and she has a difficult role,” Simpson said. “I would hope that she is appointed for another term.”