Խ

Skip to main content Accessibility

To make Press Center inquiries, email press@splcenter.org

New Խ Series Explores the Human Cost of Mass Parole Denials in Alabama

In the first installment, ‘Freedom Denied’ shares Scarlette Annette Orso’s story

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Despite thousands of people in Alabama's prisons being eligible for parole and awaiting a hearing, the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles denies even the best candidates. “Freedom Denied” – a new series by the Southern Poverty Law Center (Խ) – will explore the human cost of the Alabama parole board’s decisions, which have shown a predisposition to deny parole to incarcerated people who have for years – often decades – abided by prison rules, completed classes and maintained behavior that should prompt serious consideration of a release by parole. 

The series’ first installment, published today, dives into the story of Scarlette Annette Orso – a beloved community member who is serving a 20-year sentence for a crime few think she committed. 

Orso, who has earned her GED diploma in prison, has had only one disciplinary infraction in 12 years and lined up an after-hours janitorial job at a daycare center run by a friend, was denied parole in September.

The board’s record of denying parole is particularly noteworthy in a state grappling with dangerously overcrowded prisons that have prompted Department of Justice reports detailing shocking violence by correctional officers and systemic failures. An Խ analysis published in September exposed mass denials of elderly and other at-risk people eligible for parole, despite continued prison overcrowding and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read Խ’s “Freedom Denied” series here.