Crowded prisons danger to state Alabama imprisons a much larger percentage of its population than most states, but it spends much less per prisoner than any other state. That combination has created a dangerous situation that cannot continue to be ignored.

Two years ago the Legislature created the Alabama Sentencing Commission to propose solutions to the state's prison crisis. Last week the commission issued a non-nonsense report.

But before addressed solutions, the commission looked at the extent of the problem. What it found should concern every Alabamian:

Over the past three decades, Alabama's prison population has grown by more than 600 percent while its total population grew by 30 percent. Alabama imprisons a greater proportion of its citizens than all but a handful of states. In 2001, Alabama ranked fifth among the states in the number of inmates per 100,000 population, with a rate more than 38 percent higher than the national average. Between 2000 and 2001, "Alabama's inmate population grew at nearly twice the national average." The prison report said that the inmate population growth results from two simple factors: "How many people walk in the front door (admissions) and how long they stay (length of stay."

Admissions -- In 2002, new admissions climbed to 10,212 inmates, "up 9 percent from the previous year." Over the past decade, new prison admissions are up 26 percent. That includes an increase in the number of inmates sentenced to prison by the courts of 35 percent, while inmates admissions from parole or probation violations are up 17 percent. Length of stay -- While the length of prison sentences for new inmates across the sentencing spectrum declined, the report notes that the length of prisons stays for the 25 most frequent offenses have gone up 22 percent since 1999. The report also notes that many states address overcrowding problems by "accelerating parole releases or diverting more prisons to such non-custodial options as parole. "Unfortunately," the commission states, "Alabama's probation and parole systems are also crowded and are unable to absorb an influx of new offenders...."

One way that Alabama has dealt with its overcowding problem is by leaving state inmates in county jails far longer than is wise or legal. The report notes that in December, 27 Alabama jails report that their population has reached or exceeded capacity. "In fact, four jails report populations of twice their rated capacity."

The results of all these trends is a prison system that is bursting at the seams.

Prisons have a "design capacity" that represents the inmate population they can safely and efficiently hold. By adding more beds and using space not designed to hold prisoners, those capacities can be exceeded. But to do so creates risks to the safety of inmates, corrections officers and ultimately the public.

Alabama's five maximum security prisons are at 175 percent of their design capacity. Medium-security facilities are at 210 percent of design capacity. For example, Tutwiler prison in Montgomery County houses 1,321 inmates, 300 percent of the 441 inmates it was designed to hold.

The dangers of overcrowding are compounded by the fact that Alabama employs far below the national average in corrections officers per prisoner, as well as far fewer than national standards recommend.

Over the past three decades, Alabama has seen a roller coaster of prison crises, followed by short-term solutions, then a return of crisis conditions.

The Alabama Sentencing Commission is recommending not just short-term fixes, but approaches design to end this cycle for the foreseeable future. The public should hope the Legislature is listening.

Tomorrow: Some solutions.

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