Legislative Wrap-Up, 0515 ALBJ, 76 The Alabama Lawyer 186 (2015)

• Author: Othni J. Lathram, Senator Cam Ward, J.

LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP

Vol. 76 No. 3 Pg. 186

Alabama Bar Lawyer

May, 2015

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0 Othni J. Lathram, Senator Cam Ward, J.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0The Time for Prison Reform Is Now Co-authored by Senator Cam Ward, chair, Alabama Prison Reform Task Force

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0We have reached the point of no return. It is no longer possible to pretend that we do not have a problem in our state correctional system. Statistics show that as of September 2014, Alabama's prisons were the most crowded in the country, operating at 195 percent of capacity with 26,029 prisoners in a system designed to hold 13,318. Meanwhile, the expenditures of the Department of Corrections exceed $370 million dollars in an ever-more difficult general fund budget. This means that we have to get smarter and more strategic in how we deal with our criminal justice system.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0We took a major first step toward developing a strategic approach to dealing with these issues in early 2014 when the leadership of all three branches of government requested support from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance to explore possible solutions. Additionally, the Council of State Governments Justice Center was invited in and given full access to the stakeholders to provide technical assistance in collecting and analyzing data to develop policy options.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0The Alabama Legislature backed up this request with the passage of SJR20 in February 2014 to create the Alabama Prison Reform Task Force. This task force brought all three branches of government to the table with additional parties representing all interests in this issue to explore the current state of the system in Alabama and look at ways to improve the situation. The task force met multiple times to consider data and various policy recommendations before ultimately endorsing a policy framework and potential solutions.

\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0\xA0Ultimately, the task force, along with the technical assistance of CSG's Justice Center, made recommendations in three strategic areas: strengthen community-based supervision and treatment, prioritize prison space for violent and dangerous offenders and provide supervision to every person released from prison and improve notification to victims regarding releases from prison.

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