Alabama’s prison population has steadily been getting older and more expensive to house.
In 2005, about 36% of people in Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) custody were between ages 15 and 30. By 2021, that number had been halved and is now around 18%.
Our state’s crime rate fell dramatically – by nearly 17% – from 2005 to 2019.
This aging trend among incarcerated Alabamians will have an enormous impact on our state’s ability to pay for and house people in prison, now and in the future.
We can’t afford – financially or morally – to keep incarcerating people who were convicted of offenses involving no physical injury and who already have served more than 20 years.
The falling crime rate and the severely harsh nature of Alabama’s 1977 three-strikes law mean the share of older people in ADOC custody who were convicted of offenses involving no physical injury but have lengthy sentences has grown dramatically over time.
This has resulted in a disproportionately older and more expensive prison population. And it has contributed greatly to severe prison overcrowding, leading to a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit.
These older inmates are the least likely to reoffend but the most costly to incarcerate, most commonly due to health care costs. Between 2000 and 2022, the state’s aging prison population contributed to a dramatic increase in the cost of incarceration. In this period, the average cost of incarceration per inmate rose from about $25 a day to more than $80, a cost increase of 220%.
HB 229 would allow a narrow group of people who were convicted of offenses involving no physical injury and who already have served more than 20 years of a life sentence a chance to petition for resentencing.
Only a narrow group of people serving enhanced sentences due to three-strikes guidelines would have the chance to be resentenced. This one-time opportunity would expire within five years.
Incarcerated individuals would qualify for resentencing only if all of the following apply:
Their sentence was not the result of an offense causing serious physical injury to another person.
They were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
They received a final sentence at a trial court prior to May 26, 2000.
The bottom line: We need to reform Alabama’s three-strikes law.
This bill would offer the possibility of resentencing only to older people who are incarcerated for offenses involving no physical injury and who already have served more than 20 years of a life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) sentence.
Alabama’s punitive sentencing practices have caused disproportionate harm to people with low incomes and people of color. This bill would be one important step to begin addressing some of the injustices resulting from those practices.
It’s time to provide older Alabamians with a second chance: Pass Rep. England’s HB 229
Alabama’s prison population has steadily been getting older and more expensive to house, adding to the state’s overcrowding problem.
We can’t afford – financially or morally – to keep housing people who were convicted of offenses involving no physical injury and who already have served more than 20 years.
HB 229 would allow a narrow group of people who were convicted of offenses involving no physical injury and who already have served more than 20 years of a life sentence a chance to petition for resentencing.
We need to reform Alabama’s three-strikes law. This bill would help address the injustices of sentencing practices that disproportionately have harmed people with low incomes and people of color.
