Seeking redemption for aged and infirm prisoners amid Alabama's high bar for parole
A former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice runs a legal nonprofit, Redemption Earned, that helps aging and sick inmates win release from prison. Last year, 10% of Alabama prisoners received parole.
Doug Layton, Jr. proudly takes a visitor on an after-hours tour at the glass shop where he works just outside Birmingham, Ala. Layton has been here less than a year but has been given the responsibility for locking things up at the end of the day.
"I haven't felt that since I was like 15 or 16 — where somebody just really trusts me," he says.
Layton is 56, and spent nearly 20 years in prison for reckless murder in a hit and run killing. With prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to life in prison. He had a clean record behind bars, and worked for 5 years at a work release camp. So when he was up for parole in 2021, he was hopeful he might get out. But even with support from the victim's mother,
