Seeking redemption for aged and infirm prisoners amid Alabama's high bar for parole

[Jilly_in_VA]

Doug Layton, Jr. proudly takes a visitor on an after-hours tour at the glass shop where he works just outside Birmingham, Ala. Layton has been here less than a year but has been given the responsibility for locking things up at the end of the day.

"I haven't felt that since I was like 15 or 16 — where somebody just really trusts me," he says.

Layton is 56, and spent nearly 20 years in prison for reckless murder in a hit and run killing. With prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to life in prison. He had a clean record behind bars, and worked for 5 years at a work release camp. So when he was up for parole in 2021, he was hopeful he might get out. But even with support from the victim's mother, he was denied parole.

"What kind of message is that sending to somebody that's trying so hard to focus on their life, their character, their remorse, everything?"

Layton says repeated parole denials rip the hope out of incarcerated people, leading to more desperate conditions.

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/11/1217710630/prison-parole-alabama-redemption-earned-prisoners-release

It's ridiculous to keep some of these people in prison. Read on....