Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles lagging on new plan for incarcerating parole violators

Alabama lawmakers this year approved a bill changing how the state incarcerates people who violate the terms of their parole or probation and receive 45-day sanctions called “dunks.”
The long-range plan is to use a vacant, private prison in Perry County to house those offenders with the goal of steering them back on the right track and away from going to prison.
The legislation set up a stopgap plan to use before the state could buy and prepare the Perry County facility for occupancy. But implementation of that plan is behind schedule.
The Legislature passed the bill in response to complaints from county governments that people sentenced to dunks, who are state custody offenders, take up space and raise costs in county jails.