Board adopts revised parole guidelines, denies multiple paroles and grants several pardons

The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles met in Montgomery on July 17, 2025, and voted to adopt a repeal-and-replacement parole guideline (Form ABPP-2) and to decide a full docket of parole and pardon requests. Chair Hal Nash presided; the Board recorded actions through Board Secretary Nicole Lewis.

The board adopted the replacement Parole Guidelines (ABPP-2) "upon recommendation of Director Cam Ward," voting to post the adopted guidelines and an explanatory statement on the agency website and authorizing Director Ward to sign the Certification of Administrative Rules. The adopted package includes an explicit credit for completion of educational programming (a minus‑1 factor) and adds guidance to consider juvenile status at the time of an offense, while rejecting several public suggestions the board said were beyond its statutory authority.

Why it matters: the adopted guidelines are intended to standardize how the Board weighs offensive severity, actuarial risk assessments, institutional behavior, programming completion, reentry plans, and stakeholder input when exercising discretion on parole. The Board's statement says the guidelines remain an aid to — not a substitute for — the Board's statutory discretion…