In the wake of the shooting death of Bibb County Deputy Sheriff Brad Johnson, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has urged the Alabama Legislature to reevaluate the state's so-called Correctional Incentive Time laws, also called "good time."
During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show" on Thursday, Marshall said one of the first things to be considered was how the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) was applying the "good time" statute.
"[O]ne of the questions that we've raised, and hopefully the legislature will look at, is for this individual, who escaped from the Department of Corrections, why is it that the 'good time' credit even applies to somebody who clearly couldn't follow the rules of the system and, in fact, violated the law by leaving the work release facility and had to be picked up in Georgia, where he assaulted an officer there?" Marshall said. "If we've learned from Sergeant [Nick] Risner's death, another problem with the good time credit the legislature was able to fix – this being another one of those examples where we have to look hard at how this law is being applied in the circumstance of how in which people are getting that credit."
Marshall suggested the legislature also check the efficacy of "good time" as an incentive for the incarcerated and ensure it was not being applied without merit.
"If 'good time' credit is deemed to apply to incentivize good behavior in prison, then let's make sure that's what it has actually done and that it is not just somehow or another given blanketly as a way of moving somebody through the system," Marshall said. "The whole concept of correctional incentive time, how it is actually referred to by the Department of Corrections in the statute, if it was compounded for the purpose of trying to give inmates reasons to be compliant in jail to potentially get out sooner at the end of their sentence, then let's make sure we have a law that works for that purpose.
"We don't want to de-incentivize somebody to follow the rules and to live by the law, which seemingly as it relates to the individual who killed Deputy Johnson – there was no part of his behavior that seemed to be worthy of getting that credit."
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com.
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