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Beth Shelburne Profile picture
@bshelburne
Aug 28, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
I just witnessed the most extraordinary moment. Judge David Carpenter in Bessemer, AL has resentenced Alvin Kennard to time served after he got life without parole for robbing a bakery of $50 in 1983. He is now 58 & was 22 when he committed the robbery.
The courtroom was full of Alvin’s family who wept with joy when the Judge announced his decision. Here they are outside court.
Alvin was prosecuted under Alabama’s merciless habitual offender law. His prior convictions were 2 burglaries and 1 grand larceny. No one was ever physically injured. There are more than 500 men & women in Alabama prisons like him, serving life without parole for non-homicides.
It was extraordinary to see this wrong made right, but it only happened because the right system actors were in place. I hope Alabama leaders have the courage to grant the same chance to the 500+ others like Alvin who remain locked up with no hope of release.

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More from @bshelburne

Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Mar 16
Talked to man in work release prison who just got denied parole. He's in min-security, working in community every day, going home on 40 hour passes, all privileges granted to ppl who earn them by following rules. AL parole board denied him, set him off 5 years, until 2029. 1/4
This man has served over 10 years for drug manufacturing, no violent conviction. Last parole denial they set him off 3 years. So he followed rules, no write-ups, kept his head down, got custody lowered, has been working hard, and was rewarded with an even longer set off. 2/4
He faces 5 more years of wage garnishment (ADOC takes 40%) 5 more years of prison, 5 more years that he cannot properly provide for his family. When the system keeps ppl in labor camps long term, it violates its own mandate for stated purpose of work release. (SEE BELOW) 3/4 Image
Read 4 tweets
Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Dec 15, 2022
Alabama's parole board routinely denies people in minimum-custody work camps citing public safety, yet these same people are working unsupervised in the community. ADOC gave them min-security status bc they've proven themselves which used to mean likely parole. NOT ANYMORE. 1/5
EXAMPLE: Mashell Mann shot her abuser in self defense & got 40 years. She drives the van at Bham work release, a job assigned to the most trustworthy person. Still, the board denied parole & set her off 5 years. She has a stellar record but is stuck in prison making $2 a day. 2/5
Mashell wants to rejoin her children, who support her release. She wants to work & pay her restitution. She has served 26 plus years for something that arguably wasn't even a crime. She's been assigned jobs in the governor's mansion, but the system will still not let her go. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Aug 27, 2022
An incredibly illuminating moment at a recent parole hearing in Alabama. Instead of listing her son's accomplishments in prison, a mother decided to tell the parole board about the violence & suffering her son has experienced for the last 25 years. Watch what happened. 1/7
Ms. Harris says at the last 3 parole hearings, she talked about her son's remorse & prison classes. "That hasn't worked, so I thought this time I'm going to tell them what his life has really been like in there." He's been robbed & beaten many times. bit.ly/3pUwzSc 2/7
In 2017, she says he suffered a traumatic brain injury in an assault. When she & his sister visited him, he was still badly bruised and she had this photo taken to document the injury. "He was very confused at that visit," she said. "His mind is still not right." 3/7
Read 7 tweets
Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Aug 26, 2022
Paroles from Alabama min-security work prisons have fallen 83% since @GovernorKayIvey picked a career prosecutor as board chair. Thus, keeping people in low wage (many $2 a day) work prisons indefinitely, prisons described by ADOC for short term stays to prepare for release. 1/4
The parole board held 34 hearings Tues, granting only one parole. 6 of 33 people denied are imprisoned in min-security work centers or work release. That means ADOC deemed them low risk enough to work in the community, but the parole board still doesn't want them to go home. 2/4
Not everyone the board denies is serving time for violent crimes. Norman Barnett has served 15 years of a 20-year sentence for drugs & false identity. He has min-out custody at Holman prison but after the board denied him, he'll stay there for the rest of his sentence. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Aug 11, 2022
Hear that sound? It's the CHA-CHING of cash registers ringing across Alabama! Big money is being made in @GovernorKayIvey's "Alabama solution" to build new mega-prisons, starting with HOAR PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, which has made $4.3 million off the plan so far this fiscal year. 1/6
What exactly is HOAR contributing to the mega-prison construction plan? According to their latest $8.8 million contract extension (CHA-CHING!) the firm will continue to provide "program management services" & "procurement analysis & support" to ADOC, Gov. Ivey & lawmakers. 2/6
Zoom in on that new contract total. $35 MILLION! LET IT RAIN! CHA-CHING CHA-CHING! It's a great day to be at HOAR! But wait? Didn't the state only recently secure funding for the mega-prisons? YES. But tax dollars tied to mega-prisons have been paid to HOAR since 2018. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
Beth Shelburne Profile picture
Jul 27, 2022
I've heard some Alabama politicians try to justify spending $1.2 billion on new mega-prisons by saying it's the only way to provide adequate programming, that it can't be done in current facilities. But both incarcerated people & prison staff tell me this is simply not true. 1/4
The current lack of rehabilitative programs in ADOC is due to lack of staff, not lack of space, say prisoners & staff. How else can these abysmal program numbers be explained, when prisons were MORE OVERCROWDED in 2013 by 6000 ppl, but saw hundreds more completing programs? 2/4
Look how program graduates have fallen off a cliff. 646 earned a GED in 2013 compared to just 11 last year! Same space as 2013 & even less prisoners. 1377 earned a vocational trade in 2013, cut in half to 635 last year. This is because ADOC lacks competent & adequate staff. 3/4
Read 4 tweets

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