Florence, AL – Alabama's prison system is trying to avoid a mass release of state inmates in 2012.
With Alabama's prisons housing almost double the number of inmates they were designed for, some are worried federal courts will free inmates to reduce the overcrowding.
Prison Commissioner Kim Thomas says that 2012 will be a challenging year for the Department of Corrections. But Thomas says he and other officials are working to avoid any order for a mass release of inmates to reduce overcrowding.
Thomas says the department will announce a plan soon to reduce crowding in state prisons.
The U.S. Supreme Court in May ordered California to reduce 30,000 inmates from its overcrowded prison system.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)