Alabama's New Year's Resolution?

You'd think that if your prison system held almost twice as many prisoners as it was built for, the state legislature would do something about it.

Not in Alabama, apparently, as this editorial from The Anniston Star bemoans:

The new year has arrived, yet Alabama remains saddled with one of its most pressing problems — the profound overcrowding of its state prison system. Last year, officials discussed possible options. Nothing substantial was decided. The state has carried that problem from one year to the next. ...

In Alabama’s case, the devil resides in the numbers. The state’s prisons are at 190 percent of capacity. They’re designed to hold less than 15,000 inmates, and today they house nearly 31,000. One doesn’t need to interview Commissioner Thomas to have a vague idea of the widespread logistical and health-related problems that causes. ...

Our response early in 2012 is the same as it was in 2011: Any effort to lessen prison overcrowding must also include the revival of sentencing-reform legislation that has died in past sessions of the Legislature. ...

Today, Alabama continues to need a two-pronged approach: one legislative, another in corrections. It’s tough to see a scenario where some sort of inmate release isn’t warranted — particularly first-time offenders convicted of non-violent, non-sex crimes. Alabama’s state prisons are too crowded to think otherwise.

However, the Alabama Legislature owns a critical role; it must make sentencing reform a priority in its upcoming session. This is where the state’s Republican majority needs to demonstrate true leadership and make those “tough decisions” that will alleviate this obvious and severe problem.

Alabama isn't the only state resolving to cut corrections costs:  Georgia, Kansas, and Oregon are a few others.

Sentencing reform must be on the table, but will legislators be brave enough to do it?  Many say no, but who says sentencing reform has to be a political disaster?  Or that it has to endanger the public?  This black-and-white thinking is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place:  instead of using smart-on-crime options, legislators went for the toughest sentences they could think of.

And now taxpayers are paying for it -- and can no longer afford to.

Here's hoping states like Alabama keep this New Year's resolution and reform their mandatory sentencing laws.