By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Members of a legislative oversight committee have promised to push for legislation next year that would create more drug courts and enhance other programs aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.
But one legislator, Senator Pat Lindsey, warned that such programs may be used against them by political opponents, who will say they are soft on crime.
Members of the Legislature's Joint Prison Oversight Committee agreed Thursday to meet once a month between now and the start of the 2008 regular session in February to develop bills aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.
Prisons Commissioner Richard Allen says there are currently 24,500 inmates in state facilities. That includes 21,500 in permanent prisons. Allen says those prisons were built to hold about 10,400.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)