Until recently, when it came time for a judge to sentence someone who had been convicted or pleaded guilty to a crime, there were few options to consider.

Judges could send the guilty party to prison or jail, suspend the sentence or grant probation.

Alabama judges now have other options for punishing those convicted of or pleading guilty to crimes, including work release, where the person is able to work but spends the remainder of their day in jail, and community corrections, where they might be sentenced to house arrest, being allowed to leave home only for work, church, doctor visits and such.

An option in some counties, including Colbert, Lauderdale and Franklin, is drug court, where drug users are required to complete a rehabilitation program rather than go to prison.

Lauderdale Circuit Court Judge Mike Jones said for many of the people who come before him, alternative sentencing is a better option than ordering long-time confinement.

"My feeling is that prison almost never rehabilitates someone," Jones said. "If you put someone in prison for a long time, they become socialized to the prison environment and can no longer function in society. Some people need to be locked up. But others do not need to be locked up."

Instead of sending people convicted of nonviolent crimes, such as theft or drug possession, to prison, Jones prefers ordering an alternative sentence such as supervised probation or work release.

People sentenced to supervised probation must report to their probation officer on a regular basis, have a job, be screened for drug and alcohol abuse, complete substance abuse prevention programs and comply with court-ordered restrictions.

In work release, inmates pay a portion of the money they earn to help pay for their incarceration, pay restitution to their victims, and pay fines and court costs.

Drug court allows drug users who complete the intense program to avoid being sent to jail or prison. Drug court participants who continue to use drugs can be sent to prison.

Some people convicted of crimes can be sentenced to community corrections where they are allowed to work and live at home while being supervised by corrections officials. Community corrections participants can be ordered to wear electronic monitors that track them when they leave home. The participants are required to pay for the monitoring service.

"An alternative sentence does not mean there are not any consequences for someone's bad behavior," Jones said. "It just means a judge has the option of doing something other than putting someone in a cage. If someone murders someone, rapes someone or robs someone, they need to go to prison. But if someone has a drug problem, what have we accomplished by locking them up for many years? Some people stand a better chance of turning their life around if they are punished by something other than sending them to prison."

Alabama law prohibits anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to certain crimes from participating in the community correction program. Those crimes include first-degree kidnapping, rape, sodomy, arson, robbery, sexual abuse, forcible sex crimes, lewd and lascivious acts upon a child, selling or trafficking in controlled substances or first-degree assault.

Colbert County District Attorney Bryce Graham Jr. said alternative sentences work well for many nonviolent criminals.

Graham said alternative sentences are an important part of Alabama's criminal justice system.

"Obviously, the reason for alternative sentences is our prisons are bursting at the seams," Graham said. "We don't have enough prison cells to lock up every person convicted of a nonviolent crime. For some drug offenders, sentencing them to drug court is a much better way to punish them than sending them to prison. In drug court, they stand a better chance of overcoming their addiction than they would in prison."

Lauderdale District Attorney Chris Connolly said alternative sentences free up space in prison for the most violent criminals. In addition, programs such as work release or community corrections allows them to earn money for paying restitution to their victims.

The Alabama Sentencing Commission advocates the use of alternative sentences, touting them as providing a deterrent to crime while keeping prison space available for the most serious offenses.

"By maintaining employment, obtaining treatment for drug or alcohol abuse and addiction, proper counseling and community support, offenders are less likely to return to a life of crime and recycle through the criminal justice system," sentencing commission officials wrote in a report.

Alternative sentences provide substantial cost savings to the state, according to the sentencing commission. The average daily cost of a community corrections offender for fiscal year 2007 was $12.97 as compared to $39.46 per day for an inmate incarcerated in the penitentiary, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The Department of Corrections estimates that by diverting felony offenders to community corrections programs, there was a cost savings of at least $88 million. This represents savings to the taxpayer of approximately $8 million dollars realized just this year by the reduced costs of housing the offenders in correctional facilities and the estimated $80 million to $120 million in construction costs that would be required to build a new facility to house these offenders.

Graham said people who receive alternative sentences and fail to comply with the conditions of their sentence can also be ordered to jail or prison.

"Just because someone receives an alternative sentence does not mean they are free to run wild in the community," Graham said.

Robert Oakes, assistant director of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole, said it's difficult to track the success rate of alternative sentencing. Alabama does not keep records of the number of people who complete an alternative sentence and never run afoul of the law again.

"You can't track people who are completely released. They are free citizens," Oakes said.

From all indications, though, alternative sentences appear to be working well, he said.

Of the 58,000 people who were on supervised probation or parole in 2007, only 675 were convicted of new offenses, Oakes said.

"Many of the people who are placed on probation complete their sentence, turn their life around, and we never hear from them again," Oakes said.

Oakes said Alabama does not have enough money to provide a prison cell for everyone convicted of a crime, and alternative sentences are a must for making sure those who commit crimes are punished.

Oakes said it costs less than $2 per day to supervise someone on probation.

In addition, sending some people to prison could do more harm than good, Oakes said. "You don't want a kid convicted of shoplifting to be sharing a prison cell with murderers, robbers and home invaders."

Before being placed on probation, people convicted of or pleading guilty to crimes must undergo a screening process that determines if they would be a threat to their community if allowed to remain free, Oakes said.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.

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