The decision is up to a judge’s discretion. Allow anyone convicted of a non-violent crime to have their sentence re-evaluated under the presumptive sentencing guidelines established in 2013. An inmate’s sentence could be re-considered if they have demonstrated acceptable conduct while in custody.Separate from the prison construction bill are two reform bills, nods to changing the laws that land non-violent offenders in prison for years. While Republicans can run over Democrats to pass bills they want, leadership has said they want this to be a bi-partisan effort. There are 27 Republicans in the 35-member Senate. Republicans currently hold 76 seats in the 105-member House. “The buildings will help some but it won’t stop how poorly managed our correction system has been for a long time but specifically the last few years.” “The buildings won’t stop corruption,” Rep. While most of the Democrats in both the House and Senate have not been outright against building new prisons, they have continued to say construction should be paired with more rehabilitation measures and criminal justice reform legislation. It’s Democrats who have pushed for a new women’s prison and they’d like it to get at least the same priority as the men’s sites. But legislative leadership has said it would be a pay-as-you-go method with funding to include future allocations from the Legislature. Phases two, including the women’s prison, and three renovations in the bill don’t have a dedicated funding stream outlined in the bill. Some advocacy groups have said new prisons aren’t the best or intended use of the federal funds. But leaders also say they can use about $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act money.
The bill would allow the state to borrow $785 million to build the men’s prisons. State House leadership has said the two companies likely to get the contracts were vetted in a bid process under Ivey’s original proposal to lease prisons from private developers.Īnother reason construction may start sooner? Federal COVID-19 relief money. That’s because the bill allows the state to bypass the normal bid rules in selecting the general contractors on the project. Kay Ivey as expected, construction on the men’s prisons could begin by early next year. If the bill is approved and signed by Gov. “We’re trying to find the political balance, the economic balance and the real-needs balance,” Albritton said.Ĭonstruction Could Start Sooner Than Usual He said there have also been concerns about the short list of men’s prisons to be renovated. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get that completely ironed out,” Albritton said. Members with prisons in their districts don’t want to lose the jobs they provide. The draft named five to close and left the futures of several to be decided later, but closure is an option. One of those hard spots is the list of prisons in the bill that would be closed. “We’ve tried to identify some hard spots from the feedback from membership,” Albritton, the Senate General Fund chairman, said. Greg Albritton, R-Range, who is expected to sponsor the bill in the Senate, on Friday said some tweaks to the bill are coming to lock-in support as leadership continues to count votes on for the proposal. The bill also would close several prisons.
A fourth men’s facility would be possible in several years under phase three. A new 1,000-bed women’s facility and renovations to three existing men’s prisons would follow in a phase II. Under a draft bill circulated to legislators earlier this month, the first phase of the plan would build two 4,000-bed prisons, estimated by lawmakers to cost $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, in Elmore and Escambia counties. Lawmakers begin meeting Monday afternoon in a special session. The Alabama Legislature will soon debate a prison plan that leaders say would address issues with the state’s outdated and crowded facilities and the violence and poor care that has prompted federal investigations and threats of takeovers. The state House of Representatives and Senate return to session Monday afternoon for a special session on prisons.
0 kommentar(er)
