Montgomery Advertiser
John Davis
October 25, 2005

Alabama bucked a nationwide trend last year by reducing its state prison population as the rest of America was seeing gains.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Alabama led the nation in reducing its number of inmates, with a 7.3 percent decline. Ten other states also saw declines, but not at the levels seen in Alabama. Rhode Island, the next closest state, was down 2.8 percent in 2004.

The number of prisoners nationwide grew by 1.9 percent last year, nearly matching the 2003 growth rate of 2 percent.

A program to purge the Alabama prison system of nonviolent offenders drove the population drop last year, but now inmate numbers are on the rise again.

The Alabama Department of Corrections released nearly 2,000 inmates between June 2003 and June 2004.

As those months passed, fewer and fewer inmates were eligible to be considered for early release. By December, the reduction in prisoners had dwindled to 328.

Gov. Bob Riley has convened a special task force to come up with ideas to curb Alabama’s growing prison population, which now costs the state $300 million annually.

“Ultimately, you can’t lock up everyone for every offense and keep them locked up for the rest of their life,” Riley told the task force earlier this month.

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