AL SB215

Creates the Criminal Justice Policy Development Council with five members including directors from the Alabama Sentencing Commission, Department of Corrections, Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Legislative Services Agency to oversee development of risk assessments, parole guidelines, and inmate classification systems.

Requires the council to complete updates to inmate classification systems, create parole release guidelines, and adopt validated risk and needs assessments by October 1, 2024, with quarterly progress reports to the Legislature starting October 1, 2022.

Changes parole release guidelines from advisory tools to mandatory requirements that the Board of Pardons and Paroles must use in making parole decisions, with guidelines based on prisoner risk assessment, reentry progress, victim input, program participation, institutional behavior, and offense severity.

Requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to provide detailed written explanations when deviating from parole release guidelines to the prisoner, victim, Department of Corrections, and interested parties upon request.

Establishes appellate review process allowing prisoners denied parole to appeal within 30 days to Montgomery County Circuit Court when the board deviates from guidelines, with judicial review limited to the prisoner's parole file and final decision by circuit court.