Letters of Support
Champ Lyons, Jr., Former Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
“As I understand it there are approximately 230 inmates, substantially all of whom are over the age of 50 and all of whom have served at least 23 years, who fit within the category of prior offenses described in the proposed 2024 Second Chance bill. The time has come to reinstate the relief that was available up until 2015. Indeed, it is past time.”
Spencer Bachus, Former U.S. Congressman
“I have walked in your shoes, both as a member of the Alabama Legislature and the United States Congress, and therefore understand the seriousness with which you undertake any changes in criminal sentencing. But I served long enough to learn that the criminal justice system does not always get it right. Our fellow Alabamians saddled with sentences that are no longer fair or necessary, like my friend John Manley, deserve hope for a second chance.”
Lee Hale, Sr., Alabama Attorney and Author of the Original Habitual Felony Offender Act
“I believe our state legislature needs to enact legislation which provides for courts to consider resentencing convicts serving life and life without parole when these convicts are older, no longer a threat to our citizens and especially those who are in poor health requiring our taxpayers to pay for their medical treatment.”
Bill Clark, Attorney
“I have provided my background so as to emphasize that I am not just another lawyer supporting this bill, but, one who has worked throughout my career to try to support our great country and to improve Alabama's criminal justice system. The proposed bill is a relatively simple cost savings proposal which is badly needed to reduce overcrowded prisons, but more important to give those who have been incarcerated a better chance at becoming productive citizens.”
Victims for Second Chances
“Anyone who commits this type of crime must be punished. However, the penalty imposed must be proportionate to the harm that was caused. If no one is killed, much less injured, when a crime is committed, I do not believe it is in anyone’s interest to send the person to prison for the rest of their life.”
Support from Prison Fellowship
“Current Alabama law enshrines so-called “Habitual Offender” penalties aimed at protecting the public from dangerous repeat offenses from a singular set of people.1 However, these policies too often fail the test of proportionality, without the promised gains in public safety. God created the men and women who live and work in Alabama prisons with dignity and value, worthy of a just penalty for the crime they have committed. An overly punitive approach to crime fails to reflect the Christian values so many Alabamians share.”
Support from Alabama Faith Leaders
“We certainly understand there are times in which punishment must account for wrongdoing; however, as is often seen in the Scriptures, true justice is one that prioritizes proportionality– the difficult balance of both accountability and mercy, and a correlation between that wrongdoing and the severity of the punishment imposed… A sentence of life without parole for a crime in which no one was physically injured is surely neither proportionate nor merciful.”
Support from the Christian Coalition
“None of this would suggest that we do not recognize the place for incarceration. It is certainly appropriate in many cases and should not be eliminated. But it does make sense to be constantly evaluating whether we are using it in the best ways possible, and whether, if the evidence suggests that someone has been rehabilitated, and is not a threat to society or themselves, it is in the best interest of all parties involved to continue to house them at taxpayer expense and keep them out of the workplace. “
Support from the Faith & Freedom Coalition
