Friend,

When he was a young boy, Jeremiah loved to fish. His father taught him the sport, and Jeremiah would catch bass weighing over 10 pounds and sell his catch for top dollar to the people in his hometown.

He was a street-smart kid who “knew how to hustle” – something his father taught him.

In high school, Jeremiah – whose name has been changed in this story to protect his identity – found another passion: football. He attended college on a football scholarship and played on the defensive line.

But for the past eight years, Jeremiah hasn’t fished, played football or watched as his brothers and sisters have grown up without him. He’s been in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) since being sentenced to 21 years for trafficking 5 pounds of marijuana.

Jeremiah was up for parole a little over a year ago. But he was denied.

The reason? Insufficient time served, the parole board said.

Such denials are not uncommon from the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles (ABPP), which has a notorious record of denying parole to people in state custody, especially those who are Black. Despite vastly overcrowded prison conditions in Alabama and a national trend toward easing the harsh sentencing practices of previous decades, the board has slowed its parole grant rate in recent years – and the existing racial disparities have only accelerated.

The situation has only worsened a failing prison system, where deadly violence and unconstitutional conditions led to an ongoing lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. The SPLC is litigating a separate suit over the inadequate health care provided to people in custody.

That Jeremiah was punished so severely by the state – and has been denied parole – shows how little has been done to reform penalties for nonviolent drug offenders in Alabama, even though it is now legal to buy cannabis for recreational use in 18 states. Thirty-seven states allow it for medical use.

“They got me when I was boy, but now I’m a man,” Jeremiah told the SPLC during an interview inside a correctional facility. “This system was made for me. They want me in here for a very, very long time.”

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