An Alabama inmate is suing the state’s parole board, arguing he was paroled but never released from prison.

Alabama decided to parole Kenneth Dale Davis in 2018, giving him a shot to start over. But when Davis tried to leave prison, he was told he couldn’t.

By the time his case came before the board again in 2021, Alabama had stopped granting the vast majority of paroles.

The state denied his parole in 2021.

“I feel like I was ready for society. I had a chance to get my courage up,” Davis said about that last hearing. He said he’s been living on an “emotional roller coaster” since 2018.

Now Davis is suing the parole board, arguing he should be released from prison based on that 2018 ‘yea’ vote and placed on parole. He filed a lawsuit in March 2023, but a Montgomery County court rejected his argument. The case is currently pending before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

Read more about the parole board here.

“The Board made a good decision when it decided to parole Dale,” said his lawyer, Frank Ozment, “and the Board made a legal mistake when it caused ADOC to keep him in custody after he was paroled,” Ozment said.

Davis’ lawsuit argues the board grants parole to a person, and not to a particular sentence.

But the state disagrees, saying Davis was only paroled on some of his cases and not everything he was imprisoned for. The state argues the case comes down to timing.

Davis, 54, is serving 20 years for a string of car thefts and carjackings.

His story starts in Walker County northwest of Birmingham. Davis said in 2013 he and another man had a disagreement over the purchase of a truck. He didn’t pay everything he owed, Davis told AL.com, but he took the truck anyway. That incident ended with Davis dumping the car, then hitchhiking before carjacking a person to get away. He eventually dumped that car, too, and ran from the police.

While that case was pending, Davis stole another car. In 2014, Davis said he held a man at knifepoint in Jefferson County and stole his truck.

He said he was on drugs at the time of both crimes.

“God it sounds so awful,” Davis said quietly over the prison phone after explaining his crime. “I’m sorry I did what I did. I wasn’t in my right mind. I’m not… I know it sounds like I’m a horrible person, but I promise I’m not.”

The Jefferson County case wrapped up quickly. He pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015.

He went to prison in 2014.

Years went by. And in the summer of 2018, Davis got parole.

But not really.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office, representing the parole board, argued in a court filing that the board sent out its required 30-day notice notifications in the Jefferson County case in June 2018 and then did grant parole to Davis in August.

But a few weeks before the parole hearing in August, and after the notifications had been sent out in June, Davis was convicted in the Walker County case. It didn’t matter that the case happened years prior– it only mattered that the conviction was final that year.

In 2018, Davis pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery in Walker County, along with breaking into a vehicle. Court records don’t reflect what took the court system so long to adjudicate that case.

“The board did not consider (Davis’) 2018 convictions when it granted him parole,” the state said.

The AG’s Office said the board couldn’t have considered those cases because of the timing. State law requires 30 day notices for parole hearings, and the Walker County convictions hadn’t been final for 30 days by the time of his initial parole hearing.

Despite his lawsuit, Davis remains in prison. He’s currently incarcerated at the North Alabama Community Work Center, held in minimum-security custody.

He had another chance at parole in 2021.

“People can turn their lives around, as Dale has, and keeping those people incarcerated does nothing to reduce crime,” said his lawyer, Ozment.

According to his lawsuit, Davis has improved his prison record since last being granted parole in 2018, and had no disciplinary infractions during that period. But when he came up for parole again in 2021, he was denied.

“The Board erred when it denied his parole despite his previous parole and improved prison record,” said Ozment.

When asked what he would have told the board at that 2021 hearing, Davis said this: “I would tell them I’ve had enough… I haven’t resorted back to the old problem I had.”

The state said in a court filing that when Davis was again considered for parole in November 2021, the board had every right to deny him. Board members cited “the severity of the 2018 offenses and the negative input of stakeholders.”

In Alabama, inmates do not get to attend their parole hearings. Records show no one showed up to protest Davis’ release at the 2021 hearing. A representative from a re-entry program spoke in support of his release, and a representative from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office spoke against.

He’s not set to be considered again until November 2025.

“I’ve been working on myself a whole lot,” said Davis. He said he’s sober and has taken classes on anger management, conflict resolution and more.

Davis talked quickly, trying to tell five decades worth of stories before the 15-minute prison phone call ended.

“I’m not the same person. I’m just an old man who wants to get home to his grandkids.”

See all of our parole stories here.