PAROLE SYSTEM FACES A DEATH PENALTY

MONROEVILLE -- In January 1989, Willie Floyd Locke took a hammer and beat
two elderly people to death, robbed them and burned a Monroe County home
they were in to cover up his crime.

Though initially facing a capital murder charge, which could have drawn the
death penalty or life without parole, Locke was convicted of two counts of
murder, yielding a lesser sentence.

The case was overturned when an appeals court ruled that the county used a
racially biased method for selecting grand jury foremen. On retrial, Locke
was found guilty again of two counts of murder and sentenced to two life
terms. After serving 11 years, he could go free on July 21.

Christopher McGinnis, 28, was sentenced to two life terms on Dec. 6, 2000,
for illegal drug distribution. His parole hearing is set for July 14.

Brian Stallworth, 30, drew a life sentence for the same offense on May 16,
2001. After serving two years, he could be paroled on July 10.

All three cases are examples of how inmates in Alabama's correctional
system rarely serve the time sentenced -- a situation that has drawn
outrage from victims' groups, prosecutors and law enforcement. But a law
passed in the last legislative session may pave the way for change.

Heinous Killing

Monroe County District Attorney Tommy Chapman sent letters opposing all
three paroles, and has questioned the state's parole policy.

"Locke ought to stay in prison all his life," Chapman said. "This was a
heinous killing."

Locke beat to death a man he had worked for, Pilot Williams, and a woman
who worked in Mr. Williams' house, Susie Ann Lett, Chapman said.

"It is a fraud to consider anyone like Locke for parole after 11 years," he
said.

Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said
the disparity in sentencing causes problems for corrections, often
inspiring discontent among inmates.

"Sentences for the same crimes vary from county to county," Corbett said.
"Inmates with the same convictions get two years in one county and 10 from
another. I've seen some cases where inmates get out on parole and then get
sent back to serve 10 years because they drank alcohol."

Corbett said he recalled one case where a 19-year-old man sold marijuana to
an undercover officer near a school. For selling $350 of marijuana, he
said, the man was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Another man convicted of
murder received only five years.

Many people are also angry to learn a life sentence is considered to be
about 30 years. Most defendants only spend a third of that in jail.

"It used to be they paroled people early all the time here," said Miriam
Shehane, the executive director of Victims of Crime and Leniency, an
advocacy group.

"Generally," Shehane said, "an inmate would have to serve one-third of the
sentence to be considered for parole, but by the state law, the Parole
Board can parole anybody at any time with a unanimous vote of the three
members. If we had truth in sentencing, we wouldn't have to worry about it.
Right now, they are trying to get the prison population down, so more are
being released."

Population totals from the state's prison system began a steep rise about a
decade ago when Alabama followed other states in passing habitual offender
laws that required longer prison sentences for people convicted of multiple
felonies over time. What followed for most states has been an explosion in
prison populations with many inmates sentenced for property or drug crimes.

System Overloaded

As of April, Alabama's prison system, designed to house 10,415 inmates,
accommodated 21,316 prisoners -- not counting those on work release.

"We are adding more than 1,000 inmates a year to our prisons," Corbett
said. "We don't have the money to keep up with those kinds of increases in
housing demands."

Truth in sentencing, Corbett said, could help by diverting many inmates to
alternative sentencing programs.

Corbett said the prison system has little say over the eligibility of
inmates for parole other than to assess "good time" credits.

Under current law, inmates who behave in prison can get time shaved from
their sentences. Truth in sentencing would yield shorter jail terms and
have fewer inmates returning to prison for probation violations, he said.

But factors other than such guidelines may determine the futures of inmates
Locke, McGinnis and Stallworth, who are up for parole next month, said
Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of the Alabama Board of
Pardons and Paroles.

"Parole hearing dates are usually set when inmates first go into prison,"
Dillard said. "The Parole Board staff sets those dates after one-third of
the sentence or 10 years is served unless there is a unanimous vote of the
Parole Board."

Dillard said Stallworth and McGinnis were included in a large group of
nonviolent inmates on a special docket set by the governor to bring down
prison population.

Court Orders

In recent years, the state prisons system has come under fire for
overcrowding and for failing to remove state inmates from county jails in a
timely manner. The system is under court orders to get state inmates out of
county jails and to reduce overcrowding.

According to the state Department of Corrections Web site, the total
population in the system -- including work-release inmates and prisoners
housed in state institutions -- was 27,139 in April 2002. That month, 730
new inmates went to prison. Some 192 inmates were paroled, to bring the
year to date total to 1,471 parolees.

Dillard said the inmates considered must meet criteria: no discipline
problems in prison for the last six months, no current or prior class A
felonies, no multiple revocation of probation or parole, no convictions
involving firearms, no victim injuries, no domestic violence, drug
trafficking, sex offense or history of child abuse.

"We got the list from the Department of Corrections; the board will apply
the criteria and make a decision," Dillard said. "It doesn't mean the board
will approve their release, however."

Locke, Dillard said, has served enough time to be considered for parole.
Under the Alabama Sentencing Reform Act of 2003, the Alabama Sentencing
Commission will study the actual time served for crimes across the state
and propose sentences for specific crimes. The result, a new sentencing
standard, will replace the misleading terms handed out now, said Rosa
Davis, Alabama's chief assistant attorney general, who serves as vice
chairwoman of the Alabama Sentencing Commission.

"We will see how much time is actually served now," she said, "say, when a
person is sentenced to nine years. Data shows they actually serve three
now. That will be the sentence they receive."

The resulting standards will reduce sentences for many nonviolent crimes
and free prison space for violent offenders whose terms will probably not
be shortened, she said.

The commission also will focus on developing alternative sentencing and
community-based programs to limit those sent to prison to the most
dangerous inmates, Davis said.

Big Changes Coming

The reforms will be dramatic, she said. Instead of parole, inmates will
serve the time actually handed down, though those sentences in many cases
will likely be less than those handed down in courts now. There will be no
time taken from sentences for good behavior, but rather time added for bad
behavior.

One of the most important components, she said, will be the increased
supervision inmates receive for up to a year after their release from prison.

"That is the course we are on," Davis said. "We can reduce prison
populations depending on how you do it. If you go in and divert certain
types to alternative sentencing, it can work, but you can't leave all
sentences as they are. It would quadruple our prison population in no time."

Opponents of truth in sentencing like the nonprofit Washington, D.C.- based
organization "The Sentencing Project" warn that any changes in parole
policies can lead to dramatic growth in prison populations unless sentences
are realistic and coupled with alternative programs. The group's Web site
said some 630,000 inmates are released from prison annually in the Unites
States with 67.5 percent re-arrested within five years. More than half of
them return to prison, many within the first year.

More Single Cells Needed

Davis said the commission will be looking at issues like the number of beds
and the type of confinement. For instance, most of the state's prisons
operate as large open barracks or dorms. With truth in sentencing, the
state would need more single cells for solitary confinement.

"One of the state's big problems," Davis said, "is we have no alternative
sentencing and too little monitoring upon release. We are looking at
transition centers now to help inmates get back into productive life."

Davis said Stallworth is a good example of how things could work.

"Instead of 18 months in prison with no drug treatment," she said, "he
would get 18 months of intensive drug treatment in a community-based program."

She said violent offenders like Locke should not be considered for parole.

"Willie Floyd ought to be sentenced to 40 years and stay there for 40
years," Davis said. "Chances are he will not be paroled, but why bring the
victims and prosecutors back every five years to fight the parole?"

The commission will be working to develop sentencing standards over the
coming years as they decide on alternative sentencing programs, she said.
By 2006, parole might be a thing of the past.

The changes, however, won't affect inmates already in Alabama prisons.
Their parole dates will continue to come and go, Shehane said.

"We've got a long way to go," she said.