LOW-LEVEL CROOKS TOP PAROLE PLAN

Nonviolent Thieves, Drug Offenders Focus of Early Release Proposal

Randy Reid sold less than a half a gram of crack to an undercover
police officer in June 2001 and ended up going to prison for 12 years.

The 36-year-old roofer hadn't been in prison before, didn't have a
weapon on him when he was arrested and didn't have a violent criminal
history. He made the serious mistake of selling drugs on Birmingham's
First Avenue North, just a few miles from at least seven public
schools and two public housing complexes.

The location of his crime alone added 10 years to his sentence. Now
Reid serves his time with the Department of Corrections at Decatur
Work Release, along with more than 400 other inmates packed inside the
center designed to hold 128.

Reid and thousands of other Alabama prisoners serving time for
nonviolent offenses could get out of prison early under Gov. Bob
Riley's plan to expand the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and to
hire more parole officers.

Riley has said the early release of 5,000 or more nonviolent offenders
next year is necessary because voters turned down his $1.2 billion tax
plan. Attorney General Bill Pryor has warned that Alabamians should
consider buying guns to protect themselves from criminals who could be
released into their neighborhoods.

But the early release proposal is not a new idea hastily pulled
together to cope with the state's financial problems. It's part of a
larger plan laid out over the past