By Kim Chandler | The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY — Low-level property and drug offenders would be steered away from prison and those on probation would get more supervision, under a prison overhaul bill that won approval Tuesday in an Alabama Senate committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s 9-0 vote marked the first step forward for the reform legislation aimed at taking the pressure off Alabama’s overcrowded prisons that hold nearly twice the number of inmates they were originally designed for.

“I think there is an awareness that you’ve got to do something before the whole system collapses,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said.

A large part of the proposal is aimed at diverting low-level property and drug offenders away from prison.

The bill creates a new Class D felony category for lower level drug and property crimes.

People convicted of those crimes would not be affected by the Habitual Offender Act, and could be steered toward community corrections programs. Theft of property valued at between $500 and $1,500 would be a Class D felony.

The proposal also aims to increase supervision for those on probation or recently released from prison.

“What the statistics show is that if I’m supervised, I’m going to stay straight.” Ward said.

The bill would:

•Provide for hiring 100 new probation officers. Currently probate and parole officer have caseloads of 200 people each. The hiring would take caseloads down to under 100 each.

•Mandate that people who commit technical parole violations, such as failing to show up for a drug test, would get a three-day stint in jail. Ward said the promise of a swift punishment for failing to comply with probation requirements has proven to reduce recidivism in other states.

•Require the parole board to create guidelines, using a scoring system, to help determine who is paroled.

Alabama prisons, at 192 percent of their designed capacity, hold twice the number of inmates they were originally designed for. State officials have said that crowding level is dangerous and puts the state at risk of federal intervention.

The bill comes at an estimated annual price of $23 million, with much of the cost increase coming from hiring the additional probation officers, Ward said.

Alabama counties worry that some of the changes could increase the number of inmates held in county jails, imposing an unfunded mandate on county governments.

Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said the association has tried to work with legislators, but there is no guarantee the changes won’t cost counties money.

Brasfield said he hopes legislators will address a backlog of state inmates at county jails.

“It is a significant problem for us the amount of time we hold prisoners after conviction,” Brasfield said.

A prison reform task force is also recommending the construction of 1,700 new prison beds.

Ward said the changes, plus the construction, should reduce crowding to 138 percent of capacity within five years.