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Ala prison population grows in '09, report says

By Study finds Ala prison population grows, other state show decline

Birmingham, AL – - A new report shows Alabama's prison
population continued to increase last year while the number of
inmates declined nationwide.
The report by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew
Center on the States shows the number of inmates housed by the
state was 31,561 on Jan. 1, an increase of 3.5 percent from a year
earlier.
Meanwhile, the report says the nationwide population of state
prisons declined by 0.4 percent.
Alabama Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen says his
department has been working to reduce the prison populationm. He
says if the state had not adopted new sentencing guidelines several
years ago, the population would be even higher.