By Gary Lloyd
The American Civil Liberties Union in a report released Wednesday found that at least 3,278 prisoners are serving life-without-parole sentences for nonviolent crimes and that 244 of them are serving time in Alabama.
Of the 3,278 prisoners, 79 percent were convicted of nonviolent, drug-related crimes, the study found.
The federal courts accounted for 63 percent of the 3,278 prisoners. The remaining prisoners are 429 in Louisiana, 270 in Florida, 244 in Alabama, 93 in Mississippi, 88 in South Carolina, 49 in Oklahoma, 20 in Georgia, 10 in Illinois and one in Missouri.
The ACLU estimated that federal and state taxpayers spend .8 billion keeping these people in prison for life.
The ACLU estimated that, of the 3,278 serving life without parole for nonviolent offenses, 65 percent are black, 18 percent are white and 16 percent are Latino.
Of the 3,278, most were sentenced under mandatory sentencing policies, including mandatory minimums and habitual offender laws that required them to be incarcerated until they die.
Read the report here.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.