Governor Ivey’s New Billion Dollar Buildings Won’t Solve State’s Excessive Incarceration Rates, New Coalition Outlines Sentencing Recommendations
Montgomery, Ala. — Today the Alabamians for Fair Justice Coalition announced recommendations for reforming Alabama’s criminal justice system, including modifying sentences for marijuana, controlled substances and property theft, reforming the Habitual Felony Offender Act, and redefining “violent offenses” to include only offenses involving a serious threat or physical injury.
This announcement came ahead of the third meeting of the Governor's prison reform study group, who gathered at the State House to discuss sentencing data and policy.
Alabama currently has at least 500 people serving life without parole sentences for non-homicides under the state’s habitual offender law. This accounts for over 11,000 years of combined punishment for crimes that would not result in a life without parole sentence today. For example, two African-American women, Valrise Bendolph and Latoria Muhammad, both had young children when they received life without parole sentences for robberies and thefts.
“Alabama has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation because punishments are often excessive,” said Carla Crowder, Executive Director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. Crowder recently represented Alvin Kennard, a man who was sentenced to life without parole in Alabama for a $50 robbery at a bakery.
At 22 years old, Kennard received the mandatory sentence under the habitual offender law because he had three prior nonviolent felonies on his record. Under today’s sentencing standards, Kennard would have been eligible for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 21 years. He served 36 years in prison. In August, a judge resentenced Kennard to time served. He went on his first job interview Monday.
“Prison is loaded with people like me,” said Mr. Kennard, 58. “People who haven’t hurt anyone don’t deserve to be away all their life with no chance at parole. Many of them didn’t commit any violence. I’ve seen men change in prison and if lawmakers would do away with the habitual offender act, many older people like me could get released.”
“Reforms need to ensure punishments are proportionate to the crimes committed, and applied equally to across economic, geographic, and racial lines,” said Father Manuel Williams, Pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church and Director of Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South, Inc. “Being poor, facing drug addiction or mental health problems cannot be a license for lifetime punishment.”
"I was sentenced to 114 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense," said Dena Dickerson, Executive Director of the Offender Alumni Association (OAA), a peer support group for people coming out of prison or at risk of incarceration. Dickerson served over a decade in Alabama prisons before she was finally paroled.
"We need to start looking at people in prison as individual human beings," said Dickerson. "Locking up people and forgetting about them isn't an option anymore. We need to restore hope in people who are broken and separated from their families. Just putting people away for decades only increases the trauma and heartache on families and communities."
The coalition’s recommendations come six months after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found Alabama’s men’s prisons to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the state “deliberately indifferent” to the dangers people face within Alabama’s prisons. Despite the threat of a federal lawsuit, state leaders have made few changes since the DOJ’s initial findings letter was issued in April.
The coalition’s recommendations include:
Reform the Habitual Felony Offender Act:
Repeal or modifying the Act will reduce the numbers of “Life and Life Without Parole” sentences, significantly reducing long-term incarceration rates and incentivizing good behavior
Limit Life Without Parole to capital murder cases
Require the triggering offense to be more serious than prior convictions
Limit eligible convictions in the law to recent convictions, preventing crimes committed decades ago from applying
Modify marijuana laws:
Alabama spends approximately $22 million dollars each year enforcing marijuana possession laws, draining law enforcement resources, including district attorneys, forensic labs, and courts.
Raise the level of marijuana required for a trafficking conviction above 2.2 lbs. and remove the “violent” classification. This would reduce approximately 1,000 felony convictions each year
End felony convictions in all possession of marijuana cases and establish a citation-only violation, punishable by a fine of not more than $150, for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana
Set reasonable weight thresholds for sale/distribution
Establish a reset period of five years for possession cases and expand expungement eligibility
Modify controlled substance laws:
Drug addiction must be addressed as a public health crisis. Possession of a controlled substance is the most frequent felony conviction over the past five years, with 3,500 to 4,600 cases each year.
Reclassify unlawful possession of a Schedule II through V controlled substance as a misdemeanor or set a possession threshold (e.g. five or fewer pills) to trigger a felony charge
Distinguish substances by schedule and provide lesser penalties for substances considered less harmful per schedule designation
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Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition made up of formerly incarcerated individuals and family members of those currently or recently serving time in Alabama’s prisons, advocates, and civil justice organizations.