5 things you need to know about Alabama prison reform

Right now, Alabama is on track to solve one of the biggest threats to its budget and autonomy: our state criminal justice system.

You may not know its full significance. We have spent the last decade unable to deal with increasing burdens on our state prisons. Our facilities hold almost twice the number of inmates they were designed to hold. The level of overcrowding in our prisons is a sign that criminal offenders have overwhelmed our capacity to manage their sentences and effectively punish them. Further, it is a sure sign we are unable to keep tabs on them all post-release. The problem is giving Alabama national attention of the worst kind.

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider legislation that reflects a nuanced set of proposed policy changes. Here are the reasons why the changes are critical to our future:

We take action, or face a federal takeover of our corrections system.
That is no idle fear. When California’s prisons reached massive over-capacity, a federal judge stepped in and forced the state to release thousands of inmates because of crowded conditions. Hitting that point would mean loss
of control over spending, over sentencing and even over release dates of prisoners. In short, the federal government will decide who walks free and when.

Our current system means our communities are simply not safe enough.
None of us takes public safety lightly. Yet Alabama’s crowded prisons are not a sign of successfully punishing law-breakers. Instead, they are proof of a flawed system and a compromised fight on crime. The idea behind much of the prison reform package is to invest greatly in supervision of people coming out of prison — an approach that has drastically reduced reoffending in other states. Fewer re-offenses mean fewer victims and lower crime rates in our communities. That’s a public-safety commitment that works on all fronts.

The proposed reform is a product of a long and careful process.
This legislation is built on a bedrock of research led by Alabama’s stakeholders in our system of criminal justice and corrections. Months of thorough research and contemplation by the Prison Reform Task Force revealed that Alabama can actually reduce its crowding without resorting to drastic measures. This legislation is the first, necessary step.

Every stakeholder, from branches of law enforcement to victims’ groups, helped to shape the legislation.
Local representatives’ concerns that these new rules would require mandates on cash-strapped counties have been alleviated. Prosecutors and law enforcement have vetted the policy objectives, helped develop workable solutions and played a key role in drafting the bill; victims’ advocates know lawmakers are committed to effectively strengthening our victim notification system and the proposed legislation reflects that commitment. Every one of these groups helped
make the legislation stronger.

Our new path is built on accountability.
Anyone sentenced to prison in Alabama would be supervised, with speedy and unavoidable sanctions that would dissuade people from reoffending. Using supervision with more meaningful resources aims to hold offenders themselves accountable for their behavior. The concepts underlying the legislation have proven successful in other states and Alabama stakeholders – the state and local officials who will be tasked with carrying out the new policies – have used their practical expertise to formulate proposals to effectuate the necessary reform.

In closing, I want to reiterate that the flaws in our current system are fundamental and comprehensive, not attributable to any one person or policy. The problem we are facing is not our fault. However, as leaders of this state, we must be honest about the increasing financial threat to our state budget, as well as the risk to our ability to fight crime our way. If we fail to begin addressing these issues now while we have the chance, the crisis ahead of us will indeed be our responsibility.

Senator Cam Ward Represents Alabama’s 14th Senate District