New pardons and paroles board chair focused on team building, fairness, not stats

When the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles met last week, associate member Gabrelle Simmons called the docket and announced the vote outcomes of the 55 potential parolees as they came before the body. Alternating the running of the hearings each week among the three board members started last month with the appointment of Chairman Hal Nash. If he chose to, Nash could do most of the talking at all the hearings. “I want us to be a team,” Nash told Alabama Daily News of himself, Simmons and associate member Darryl Littleton. He extends that spirit to the board and Bureau of Pardons and Parole staff. And he regularly thanks the people who come before the board, including victims and the families of inmates. The process doesn’t work without them, he said. But being fair to all those