Several men freed after serving decades in prison for crimes where no one was physically hurt gathered today in front of the Alabama State House to support the legislature’s Second Chance bill, which could help hundreds of people still facing life behind bars in Alabama prisons for nonviolent crimes.

The bill, also called House Bill 229, was introduced earlier this month. It would allow for resentencing opportunities for older inmates who committed crimes that didn’t result in any physical injury and who are serving a sentence of life without parole under Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, and former U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus attended a press conference on Wednesday morning hosted by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, which is advocating for the reform. The bill is set to go before the House Judiciary committee today.

“HB 229 would simply permit Alabama judges to review these extreme sentences and determine if additional punishment is warranted for individuals in their 50s, 60s, and 70s,” said Alabama Appleseed’s Executive Director Carla Crowder.

“Many of these folks are living in faith dorms and have taken every rehabilitative program offered. Continued incarceration is costly and serves no public safety function,” she said.

The state’s Habitual Felony Offender Act was modified in 2015 after prison reform legislation created lesser Class D felonies and reclassified some crimes from Class C felonies to Class D, meaning that some crimes no longer carried a mandatory life sentence. But these changes aren’t retroactive, meaning hundreds of inmates who committed the same crimes before 2015 when they were still listed in the more serious category of Class C felonies are stuck behind bars.

The Second Chance Bill would provide a mechanism for judges to review sentences for those over 50 serving life without parole under the Habitual Felony Offender Act. It would exempt certain crimes from being used to enhance a sentence, but violent offenses could still be used as enhancements. People convicted of homicide, sex offenses, or crimes that resulted in serious injuries would not be eligible.

Other speakers at the press conference included Alabama Appleseed clients Robert Cheeks, Joe Bennett, and Larry Garrett, who were sentenced to die in prison and served a combined 99 years in prison for crimes where no one was physically hurt. Alabama Appleseed took on each of those cases and won the mens’ releases.

Alabama has the fourth highest number of inmates sentenced to spend their lives in prison, according to research from Alabama Appleseed. The prisons system’s November report showed that 27% of all Alabama inmates are 51 years old and older, and nearly one in 10 are over 60. That’s more than 2,500 inmates over 60. Of those over 60, more than 400 were serving life without parole sentences.

Aging prisoners are now a fourth of the population in Alabama’s prisons—facilities the Department of Justice calls dilapidated and unsafe. In the last 50 years, Alabama’s prison population has exploded, but the state has also been keeping people longer and longer. In the last 50 years, the state saw a 3,640% increase in inmates over the age of 50.

Data shows there are approximately 220 people serving life without parole sentences under the Habitual Felony Offender Act for crimes that resulted in no physical injuries.

Alabama Appleseed re-entry coordinator Ronald McKeithen, who also was set to die in prison before Alabama Appleseed took his case and won his freedom in 2020, also spoke. He served 37 years in prison.

He said in a press release prior to the event that his mission in life is to show “what many in Montgomery believe isn’t possible: that second chances do work.”

“Men and women who have spent decades incarcerated can contribute so much to society and their communities, if given the chance. And that in cases like mine, when our crimes did not even cause physical injury to anyone, sentences condemning us to die in prison are simply unfair.”

Cheeks was released from prison last year, after serving nearly 38 years in prison and the last two years living in the prison infirmary. “I would tell myself, ‘don’t give up, don’t give in, and don’t give out under any circumstances.’ That was my motto,” Cheeks said.

“I never thought I would get out. I thought I would be deceased at Donaldson, but the Lord spared me and here I am.”