Former Alabama speaker transferred to prison for sentence

Published 11:36 am Thursday, November 5, 2020

MONTGOMERY (AP) — Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard has been moved to a state prison from a county jail to serve time for his ethics convictions, records showed Thursday.

Alabama Department of Corrections records showed Hubbard has been taken into state custody. Attorney Lance Bell confirmed that Hubbard was picked up Wednesday from the Russell County Jail.

The state website indicated Hubbard was being taken to Draper Correctional Facility, but Bell did not know if that was where Hubbard was currently. The state had been using the facility to quarantine newly transferred inmates from county jails during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison after his 2016 conviction on ethics charges. Prosecutors accused Hubbard of leveraging his powerful public office to obtain clients and investments for his businesses.

The defense asked a court to reduce Hubbard’s sentence since appellate courts overturned six of the 12 counts in his conviction, but a judge has not ruled.

Hubbard reported to a county jail Sept. 11 to begin serving his sentence, before being transferred to state custody this week.

The Auburn Republican was one of the state’s most powerful politicians for years, until the ethics conviction in a corruption case ended his political career. Hubbard, the architect of the GOP’s takeover of the Alabama Legislature in 2010, was a legislator from Auburn and former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. He was elected House speaker soon after Republicans won control of both legislative chambers.

Hubbard was automatically removed from office after his 2016 felony conviction.