Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall issued a formal request Tuesday morning, calling for the governor to reappoint the parole board chair Leigh Gwathney despite “unprecedented and unwarranted criticism by the liberal media.”

Gwathney’s seat on the board expired Monday, but the former assistant attorney general will continue to serve in the role until she is either reappointed by the governor or someone else is nominated.

Marshall included in the press release a letter he sent to Gov. Kay Ivey, praising Gwathney’s leadership on the board. The letter was signed by 76 others in law enforcement, including sheriffs and district attorneys across the state.

“In 2019, we supported your efforts to reform our state’s system of pardons and paroles. While those reforms have been effective, the most consequential decision that you made during that time was to place Ms. Gwathney at the helm of the board,” Marshall wrote.

“Ms. Gwathney’s experience prosecuting violent crimes for both Jefferson County and the Attorney General’s Office makes her uniquely qualified to preside over the parole board. More importantly, her willingness to continue to serve in the face of unprecedented and unwarranted criticism by the liberal media shows a level of courage, conviction, and dedication to the cause that is rarely seen in Montgomery.”

Prior to 2019, the parole rate in Alabama was routinely above 40% and as high as 55% in 2017.

Under Gwathney’s leadership, parole rates fell as low as 8% in 2023, despite the board’s own guidelines showing more than half of eligible inmates should be released. Marshall himself wrote an opinion column that year stating that “there is simply nobody else to ‘reform’” in Alabama prisons.

Under public scrutiny from media and lawmakers, parole rates rose in 2024, coming up to about 20 percent. Gwathney however remains a reliable “no” vote in the vast majority of cases that reach the three member board.

The Alabama Attorney General said Gwathney has earned trust and respect of law enforcement and crime victims.

Marshall described the years prior to Gwathney’s appointment, where the parole rate was routinely above 40% and as high as 55% in 2017, as “misguided” and on a “dangerous trajectory related to crime and punishment.”

He added that nearly 85% of the prison population in Alabama is made up of violent offenders—a legal term that includes charges like third-degree burglary and others—“yet the parole board continues to face relentless pressure to release these offenders en masse.”

“Ms. Gwathney has proven herself to be beyond the influence of the anti-incarceration movement, ready and willing to fight for the law-abiding citizens of this state.”

State law requires a three-person committee, comprised of the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, the Senate leader pro tem, and the lieutenant governor, to submit a list of five names to the governor. From that list, the governor selects one person to fill the seat.

“The decision to reappoint Ms. Gwathney will send a clear and unmistakable message that you stand with those who protect the public, and against outside forces and special interests who care little about public safety and more about rhetoric.”

Marshall said in the press release that putting Gwathney back on the board is about protecting the state.

“Ms. Gwathney has never lost sight of what’s at stake: the safety of our citizens and the dignity of those who have suffered at the hands of violent offenders.”