By C1 Staff
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Recommendations for prison reform suggested by the task force formed to address such issues include curbing recidivism and preserving prison space for violent offenders.
The recommendations now wait on the Alabama Legislature, who must pass a bill to make the suggestions into action, according to WHNT. The policy suggestions are estimated to cost about $25 million a year, and Alabama is currently looking at a $200 million plus budget shortfall this year.
The task force also voted to support the addition of 2,000 prison beds over the next five years at an estimated cost of $60 million, or about $12 million a year. The beds would be added to existing facilities instead of within a new prison.
The task force also voted to extend its work for another year, through the 2016 legislative session.
Sen. Cam Ward said that if the state doesn’t take steps to relieve its overcrowded prisons, it risks intervention by a federal court.
Here’s what Gov. Robert Bentley said about prison reform during his State of the State speech Tuesday night:
“As a Conservative Leader, there are three things that are important to me. Upholding the rule of law, using our state resources wisely and efficiently and preserving the autonomy of state government.
In Alabama, the problems that have plagued our prison system for decades has put those principles at risk. The rule of law must be observed and those who break the law should be held accountable for their actions.
The blunt facts are alarming. Alabama’s state-operated prison facilities — the most overcrowded in the United States — are operating at more than 195-percent capacity.
We have been forced to rely on short-term fixes that have proven costly, dangerous and disorganized. The result has been an overall increasingly inefficient system.
That is why over the past year, Alabama lawmakers, leaders in the criminal justice system, local and state judges, district attorneys, victims’ rights groups, and many others have collaborated as part of the Prison Reform Task Force to develop a new plan to reform our prison system.
It won’t be easy and it certainly won’t be cheap. But we cannot ignore and under-fund what is an alarming and dangerous problem that must be addressed.”