Alabama Prison Legislation Signed

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has signed legislation meant to reduce severe overcrowding in state prisons.

Bentley said it was a historic day as he signed the legislation Thursday.

Alabama prisons house nearly twice the number of inmates they were originally designed to hold, a crowding level that has been called both dangerous and one that puts the state in danger of federal intervention.

The changes seek to gradually reduce crowding by steering low-level offenders away from prison with the creation of a new Class D felony category and to reduce recidivism with making changes to probation and supervision.

The signing came after a year of work by a task force.