The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld felony escape charges against inmates who fail to return from work-release programs, setting a significant legal precedent for how the state handles such cases.
The ruling came in the case of Whitney Jones, 54, a Mobile County inmate who participated in the Mobile Metro Jail’s work-release program in January 2018. Jones and another inmate did not return to the work-release barracks, according to the Alabama Attorney General’s office.
Jones had originally been arrested in 2017 on charges of receiving stolen property and attempting to elude after she and another suspect led police on a seven-mile chase. She was charged with second-degree escape in October 2018 and subsequently convicted.
At trial and on appeal, Jones argued that she could only have been guilty of a misdemeanor due to a provision in Alabama’s work-release escape statute. The Alabama Supreme Court rejected that argument, firmly establishing for the first time that the state’s felony escape statutes apply not only to escapes from correctional facilities but also to escapes from work-release programs.
Attorney General Steve Marshall praised the decision, noting that it provides law enforcement and prosecutors with stronger tools to ensure the safety and effectiveness of work-release and community corrections programs.
“Escaping from a work release or community corrections program is a felony under Alabama law and it will be treated as such from this point forward,” Marshall said. “Community corrections and work-release programs are intended to provide a second opportunity for less serious offenders. Those who escape from these programs have forfeited that opportunity and will now be held fully accountable for their actions.”
The case was handled by the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division. Both the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed Jones’ felony conviction in a decision issued on September 16, 2022.