Hope is still alive for criminal justice reform during the Alabama Legislature’s first special session of 2021. The House has passed a bill to make important improvements to our state’s reentry practices. The Senate will consider it this Friday, Oct. 1.

Please click here to urge your senator to vote YES on this needed criminal justice reform.

Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, is sponsoring HB 2, which would provide supervised release for every person leaving Alabama prisons. People who undergo a period of supervised release have a lower likelihood of returning to prison than people who don’t. Ensuring that no one leaves prison without a reasonable period of supervised release will reduce recidivism and help people rebuild their lives – and remain – outside the state’s horrific prisons.

HB 2 is the only meaningful criminal justice reform legislation still moving this year. The House unfortunately declined to vote Wednesday on a sentencing reform bill, which almost certainly killed the bill, given the shortened time frame for the special session. Your legislator needs to hear from you to keep the remaining reform moving forward so it can become law!

Lawmakers have rushed this week to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on building new prisons. But prison construction alone is an inadequate solution to the humanitarian crisis in Alabama’s corrections system. Reforming release practices is an essential part of making meaningful improvements to the horrid conditions in state prisons.

The Senate will vote on HB 2 this Friday, Oct. 1, and they must approve the bill if it is to become law this session. Please email your senator right now to ask for their support for Rep. Hill’s HB 2.

Click here to email your senator TODAY and urge them to vote for Rep. Hill’s HB 2.