AG Marshall pushes back on need for sentencing, criminal justice reform — Incarcerated are ‘violent offenders who have done harm,’ ‘need the accountability of prison’

Earlier this week, Attorney General Steve Marshall issued a blistering op-ed hammering Alabama’s policymakers for being “completely and utterly detached from what law enforcement and prosecutors see day in and day out” when it comes to the push for so-called criminal justice reform.

Marshall’s commentary comes on the heels of Sheffield Police Department Sgt. Nick Risner being one of two officers shot while on duty during an incident in nearby Muscle Shoals. A day later, Risner died from that injury.

During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Marshall offered an update on the situation but said there was a lesson to be learned given the suspect in the shooting, Brian Lansing Martin, was a 41-year-old man who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013 but was released in 2016 after serving only three years.

“I think we still have a lot to learn with regard to this,” he said. “But I think the lesson in a big way for me is we see an individual who had a violent history, that once incarcerated continued to show that they could not comply with the institutional rules of the Department of Corrections. And so, it shouldn’t be surprising to us when they’re back on the streets that they’re willing to engage in violent behavior again.”

Marshall questioned the push by policymakers for more sentencing and criminal justice reform and speculated it could have to do with not having a complete understanding of who is serving in Alabama’s prisons.

“I think it is part of a broader discussion, and one that, Jeff, maybe in some ways I’ve not done as good a job as I need to across the state in explaining who is in prison, why they’re there and, in fact, how long they’re serving because as we continue to have multiple calls for sentencing reform and criminal justice reform in our state, I think one of the things we ought to be able to do is to step back and figure out exactly who goes to prison, how long are they there and what does our population look like,” he said. “And the reality is Alabama has had multiple efforts over about a four-to-five year period to truly look at what we do with violent offenders. The reality is in Alabama’s prisons today, 81+% of those who are serving time are there for violent offenses.”

“So, to the extent the left continues this narrative that we’re warehousing people that are there for writing bad checks or smoking marijuana — that’s just simply not the case,” Marshall continued. “These are people who are violent offenders who have done harm on the streets. They need the accountability of prison, and they need to be there.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.