Alabama Prison Reform Bill Passes

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – The Alabama Legislature has given final approval to sweeping changes to sentencing and probation standards in an effort to relieve crowding in state prisons.

The House of Representatives passed the bill on a 100-5 vote Thursday. The state Senate went along with House changes. The bill now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley for his signature.

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 creates a new Class D of felony. It also seeks to increase supervision of former inmates as they are released from prison.