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Prison Commissioner Says Most Problems Come Back to Overcrowding

St. Clair Prison
Equal Justice Initiative
Overcrowding at Alabama's St. Clair Prison

Alabama's new prison chief says nearly all of the challenges the Alabama Department of Corrections currently face are a result of overcrowding.

Retired Air Force Colonel Jefferson Dunn has been the Corrections Commissioner for less than two months, but he says it's clear that the massive overcrowding in Alabama's prison system contributes to prison security risks and staffing issues, as well as turnover in law enforcement.

Alabama's prisons hold nearly twice the number of inmates they were originally designed to house. The state legislature passed a bill earlier this month aimed at reducing prison populations by steering certain low-level offenders away from prison entirely, and cutting down on recidivism through probation reform. However, unless lawmakers can find additional revenue to patch a shortfall in the General Fund budget, the state's Department of Corrections won't have the funding to enact those changes.

Commissioner Dunn was sworn in by Governor Robert Bentley in April. He does not have any previous background in corrections -- Bentley said he was looking for someone from outside the prison system to give Alabama's troubled corrections department a fresh perspective. Dunn previously served at the U.S. European Command Headquarters and in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

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