For nearly a year, Alabama has been under the threat of action by the Department of Justice regarding shortfalls in its prison system, particularly regarding potential violations of the Eighth Amendment, as laid out in a letter to state policymakers in 2019.
According to State Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville), the clock is ticking for the state of Alabama to act.
During an appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” the Autauga County lawmaker said he anticipated the early part of the 2020 legislative session to be “dominated” by the issue.
“I expect the first part of the session to be pretty heavily dominated by the prison discussion,” Chambliss said. “It is my opinion that if we don’t — ‘we’ being the executive and legislative branch — if we don’t solve it the first part of this year in the session, then it will be out of our hands beyond that and the cost will double or triple for what we could solve it for if the federal government makes the decisions — the federal courts.”
When asked if he thought the federal government was ready to act this year, Chambliss confirmed that belief and said it was his view that it was indeed “do or die time.”
“I think so,” he replied. “They have been very patient with us. They have been understanding. They have seen the things we have tried to do with [Department of Corrections] personnel, the classifications that we have, the increase in pay that we’ve added. We’ve taken several steps, and they’ve been patient with us, and I’ve been very pleased with that. But I believe — and again, this is my opinion — that it is do or die time now. If we don’t finish the work this session, then they’ll take it from there if we don’t.”
Chambliss also said he was open to the possibility of leading off the 2020 general session with a special session, similar to the legislature’s 2019 passage of the Rebuild Alabama Act.
“I like the idea of a special at the beginning of a regular session,” Chambliss said. “What that does is it puts all eyes on one subject, instead of jockeying for position, jockeying for time. It really brings the spotlight on one particular issue, and this issue is big enough and important enough to our state. Yes, I would favor doing a special within the regular.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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