By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Two state inmates with area ties — Frank Collins Jr. of Atmore and Kimberly Renee Harwell of nearby Century, Fla. — were each granted parole during hearings held recently by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Collins, who could have been required to remain in state custody until at least October 15, 2034 had the board not granted him clemency, was sentenced in 2018 after his conviction on a charge of distributing a controlled substance.
The Atmore man served more than half a year in jail while awaiting trial and had spent slightly more than two years in an Alabama Department of Corrections “second chance” facility in an attempt to overcome his dependence on drugs.
Collins, who has turned or will turn 39 this year, has been doing his time at Alabama Therapeutic Educational Facility for Males, a residential re-entry center in Columbiana at which he underwent an “intensive substance abuse treatment program.” His hearing was held October 1.
The Escambia County man also served all but two days of a three-year sentence after being convicted in 2010, also in Escambia County, of possession and distribution of a controlled substance.
Harwell served almost 3-1/2 years of a 10-year sentence she received in 2005 after her Escambia County (Ala.) conviction on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.
She has currently served almost 18 months of an 8-year sentence, also handed down in Escambia County (Ala.), after she was convicted in 2019 of possessing or receiving a controlled substance.
At the time of that conviction, she was about six months into a 24-month probation for reportedly attacking her daughter.