Alabama has more people in prison than much-larger New Jersey, report says
 
RON COLQUITT and MAX SMITH
Staff Reporters
May 28, 2004
 
Alabama has the fifth-highest rate of prisoners as a percentage of its population in the country and holds more inmates in its system than New Jersey or Tennessee, a new federal survey shows.

The survey indicates that an estimated 12 percent of all black males in their 20s were in jails or prisons across the nation on June 30, 2003.

With 612 inmates per 100,000 residents, Alabama's state prison system trails only Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, according to a survey of prison and jail inmates by the U. S. Department of Justice bureau of justice statistics.

In Alabama, state prisons experienced a 3.4 percent jump in the overall inmate roll from mid-2002 to mid-2003, which is the most recent date available

As of last June 30, the state's prisons held 28,440 prisoners, slightly more than the total held in New Jersey, a state with almost twice Alabama's population.

As of the 2000 census, Alabama's population stood at 4,447,100, and the population of New Jersey was 8,414,350.

Overall, Alabama's prison system ranks 15th among all states in the total number of inmates, the survey showed.

On the upside, Alabama's inmate population has decreased slightly this year, said Steve Hayes, an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman.

Quoting the latest figures, Hayes said that in January 2003 the state had 28,500 inmates in its prison system. As if May 4, the state had 26,400 inmates in the system, he said.

"Still, we are operating at approximately 185 percent of designed capacity," Hayes said. "The facilities we operate were originally designed for 12,000 to 13,000 inmates."

Hayes attributed the recent decrease in inmates to efforts by Gov. Bob Riley and his administration to decrease prison population. The Riley administration has instituted programs to provide for the early release of nonviolent offenders and divert some newly convicted felons to alternative punish- ments.

Hayes said each inmate costs the state about $9,000 a year, ranking Alabama number one for the fewest dollars budgeted per inmate.

Mike Haley, Mobile County Metro Jail warden, said Thursday that the population at the jail also has decreased.

On June 30, 2003, there were 1,405 inmates at Metro Jail, the warden said. At noon Thursday, there were 1,133 inmates in the jail, which has 1,144 beds, he said.

Haley gave several reasons for the decrease at the jail. Among them, he said, there has been a decrease in the number of federal prisoners at the jail, Prichard no longer houses its inmates there, and judges have reduced bonds for certain nonviolent offenders.

The warden said that during the 2003 calendar year, 24,446 people were booked at Metro Jail. This year, the Metro Jail budget is $14.7 million, he said.

Prior to becoming warden at Metro Jail, Haley had served as the state's commissioner of corrections under former Gov. Don Siegelman.

"I am not surprised at the survey results," Haley said of the new federal report.

"Our harsh sentencing laws and lack of available community options leave the judiciary little alternative other than to send felony offenders to prison," he said. "I fear this trend will continue unless the Legislature steps to the plate and enacts sensible sentencing reforms."

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