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| Alabama to Battle Prison Overcrowding |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/25/2001 |
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Under court order to move state inmates out of crowded county jails, Gov. Don Siegelman has released an $8 million plan that would add 250 state prison cells and create work programs for non-violent offenders. Siegelman's plan, unveiled last week, came one day after he announced he would be unable to meet a June 25 court-imposed deadline to accept the nearly 2,000 state inmates who have been held in county jails for more than 30 days. An additional 1,300 inmates have been in county lockups for less than 30 days. Many of them are sleeping on tables and floors. Siegelman said he wants to develop community work programs for the more than 14,000 state prison inmates convicted of non-violent offenses, about 53 percent of the inmate population. Siegelman said that as a last resort, and if other planned changes do not satisfy Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy, the state might transfer inmates to lockups in Georgia and Louisiana. Siegelman said he was not ready to commit the state to building another prison. Autauga County Sheriff Herbie Johnson, president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, said the governor's plan doesn't appear to provide the short-term help that some counties need. 'We need immediate relief,' Johnson said. 'I don't think at this point that has been addressed.' Shashy has set a June 28 hearing, when he could impose fines or other penalties against Siegelman's corrections commissioner, Mike Haley, due to the backlog. |
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