NCJ Number
143462
Date Published
1991
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video focuses on the philosophy and efforts of the Alabama criminal justice system in the development of intermediate sanctions designed to mitigate prison overcrowding and the high cost of prison construction and operation.
Abstract
The video presents information and conducts interviews designed to show that it is not cost-effective to impose a high rate of prison sentences. Mandatory prison sentences for drug offenders and habitual offenders have contributed to the high rate of imprisonment. Rather than attempt to deal with prison overcrowding by constructing new and costly prisons while continuing current sentencing practices, Alabama has mounted an effort to expand intermediate sanctions, which involve strict supervision of offenders and requirements of work, victim restitution, community service, and home confinement during leisure hours. Home confinement is enforced through an electronic surveillance system that involves random and frequent phone contacts with offenders to determine whether or not they are complying with home- confinement conditions. The video argues that Alabama's problems of prison overcrowding and costly prison construction are also characteristic of other States. Intermediate sanctions for nonviolent offenders are favored as a cost-effective alternative to imprisonment.