MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A recently-signed Alabama bill will make it harder for people incarcerated in the state to earn "good time.
“I want to thank the members of the Alabama Legislature for taking up this important public safety issue, supporting our brave law enforcement officers and finishing the work we started with our executive order,” Ivey said in a statement Friday evening. “This bill reforms the Good Time laws to ensure our families and law enforcement officers are safe from dangerous criminals, while preserving opportunities for rehabilitation.”
The bill is named for Deputy Brad Johnson, who was killed in a shootout with a man who was released on good time despite escaping from prison and assaulting a correctional officer.
Ivey had already issued an executive order, EO725, tightening definitions of "good time" violations and providing standards for revoking that "good time".
The law cuts the amount of correctional incentive time earned per 30 days at every level; there are three classifications of good-time eligible inmates. The previous law let Class I prisoners earn 75 days of "good time" for every 30 days served. The new law reduces that to 30 days. It also cuts "good time" for Class II and Class III prisoners. It nearly doubles the amount of time it would take an incarcerated individual to work their way up through the classes.
About 10 percent of Alabama’s prison population is eligible for good time according to officials.
