House Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, sits in the speaker’s chair in the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 8, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. During a meeting of the state’s Contract Review Committee on Thursday, Pringle asked a DOC attorney to respond to what he described as an assault on an inmate and an extortion attempt directed at the inmate’s family. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)