MUCH WORK AHEAD FOR SENTENCING LAWS

MOBILE -- Attorney General Bill Pryor told a meeting of Mobile lawyers that
there's much work ahead on reforming Alabama's sentencing laws. Pryor told
the Mobile Bar Association members Friday that state sentencing laws are in
need of an overhaul. He said his office is working hard on the task.

Pryor, 41, a Mobile Republican, said under the present system the time a
criminal will serve on a sentence is only about one-third of his actual
sentence.

"Everyone feels frustrated by it," Pryor said.

He said more rational sentences and deeper considerations for
community-based and alternative sentencing programs, such as drug court,
are essential in improving the state's costly and overcrowded penal system.

While bills are pending before the Legislature that could bring about this
sentencing reform, and which apparently stand good chances of becoming law,
Pryor said, there is much work ahead.