MONTGOMERY – Prior to Tuesday’s resumption of parole hearings, State Pardons and Paroles director Judge Charlie Graddick said at a news conference that he speaks for the public by encouraging that actions taken regarding violent offenders be reviewed very carefully.

“Foremost, inmates do not have an innate right to be paroled, they must earn such a privilege,” he said at noon from the Bureau office at 100 Capitol Commerce. “Parole consideration dates legally are determined by calculations based on various factors. I will follow the law as I know will the board. Our first priority must be the safety of every man, woman and child in Alabama. The innocent shouldn’t be put in harm’s way. Let us not gamble with innocent lives.”

One inmate from St. Clair County is up for parole consideration. Antonio Jackson was sentenced in 2009 to life in prison for two first-degree robberies in St. Clair County. Jackson has been convicted of robbery four times in Jefferson and St Clair counties, and was previously convicted of murder in Georgia. He is serving his fourth prison term. He was granted probation in 1995 and has already been paroled twice only to wind up back in prison, according to the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.

“Parole decisions will be made by the three-member board,” Graddick said. “I am not a member of the board and I have no vote in its decisions, but my opinion is an educated one, as I have served two terms as district attorney in Mobile, two terms as Alabama Attorney General and almost 20 years as judge and presiding judge of the Mobile’s 13th Judicial Circuit.