Prison overhaul bill near final passage

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Prison Jail

The Alabama Legislature could give final approval to sweeping changes to sentencing and probation standards in an effort to relieve crowding in state prisons.

The Senate-passed bill was on the House debate agenda for Thursday.

Alabama prisons house nearly twice the number of inmates they were originally designed to hold, a crowding level that state officials say is both dangerous and puts the state at risk of federal intervention.

The bill aims to steer low-level offenders away from prison and create a new Class D felony class. It also seeks to increase supervision on former inmates as they are released from prison.

The legislation was put together by a prison reform task force with help from the Council of State Governments.

Republished with permission of The Associated Press.