Authorities fear Alabama prison reforms overlook victims

Authorities fear Alabama prison reforms overlook victims

Some prisons in Alabama are housing over 200 percent of their capacity of inmates. This has caused the state legislature to take measures to address the problem, but local law enforcement authorities feel the plan is unfair to victims.

The reform plans include:

• Creation of a new category of felonies for less serious crimes. Known as Class D, these are nonviolent crimes and offenders would seldom get prison time. Class D includes residential burglary.
• Employing more parole and probation officers so more inmates could be released to community supervision.
• Lowering the number of parolees sent back to prison by recommending more lenient punishment for those who commit “technical” violations, like missing an appointment with their probation officer.
• Requiring the parole board to be transparent about reasons for denying parole. The rate of parole approvals dropped from 43 to 30 percent in five years.
• Establishing more community corrections programs, which allow felons to stay at home at night while attending treatment and counseling sessions at a county facility during the day.
• Lower penalties for offenders on probation who commit another crime. The first and second violation would only mean serving a maximum of 45 days in jail, rather than being incarcerated for the remainder of their original sentence.

Local sheriffs worry that crime victims will feel unsafe when offenders serve little or no jail time. They also fear other effects, like insurance rates increasing. They feel that building more prisons might be less of a financial burden for residents.

Legislators who voted for the reform plan cite fear of federal takeover as one of their biggest influences. They claim that the new plan would allow the state to stay in control of which prisoners are released and when that happens, as well as maintain control over spending.