Task Force Continues To Tackle Alabama Prisons
State leaders are continuing to look into the problems with Alabama’s prison system
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The state’s recently created prison reform task force met at the state house today.Â
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This is the second meeting of the group, made up members from every branch of state government.Â
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There were a lot of problems raised, and many people there to voice their concerns.Â
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There were hardly any open seats as the task force got underway.Â
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The council of state governments took an in depth look at what’s keeping our prisons at almost 200 percent capacity.Â
Other groups came up with ideas for how to fix the problems, like prison education.
“Because when they have certifications like welding or machine tools or other high wage, high skill jobs, they do reenter the job market much more quickly,” said Marilyn Beck, president of Calhoun Community College.Â
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It wasn’t all bad news. Senator Cam Ward who heads the group says it looks like some recent laws are having a positive effect on the prison system.
“The sentencing guidelines that we put into place two years ago are having an affect. We’re actually sentencing less people to prison for non violent offenses. We’re putting htem more and more into alternative programs,” said Sen. Ward.Â
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That leads to questions of why we’re still seeing such a high number of inmates in Alabama. The Council of State Governments is looking into the system and trying to answer that question.
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Andy Barbee with the group says part of the issue is with the parole system.
“What we’ve identified at this point is that there are some slow downs. We would stop short of saying we’ve identified the problems because what we want to do now is figure out what’s causing those slowdowns. So we’re about to begin submitting some very deep and detailed time with them,” said Barbee.
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The council didn’t have any recommendations today. They want at least one more meeting before posing solutions.Â
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The group plans to meet again in December. The goal is to have a package of bills for the next legislative session in March.
