58-year-old Alvin Kennard who served 36 years in prison for stealing $50 from a bakery when he was only 22 will now walk free.
Kennard was originally sentenced to life in prison without parole for first-degree robbery in 1983. After over 30 years behind bars, he was ordered to be released and is now set to be processed out by the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The unusually harsh punishment for theft in 1983 was due to the state’s old ‘three strikes law,’ also called the Habitual Felony Offender Act.
When he was jailed, he had previously been charged with grand larceny and burglary, making him eligible to be sentenced under the act. He pleaded guilty to his 1979 crime and was given 3 years probation.
If Kennard had been sentenced today for the same offense, he would’ve received a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life in prison with parole.
“I’m sorry for what I did… I was wrong. I take responsibility for what I did in the past. I want the opportunity to get it right,” Kennard said to the judge moments before being re-sentenced.
Kennard’s family cheered in court when the judge re-sentenced him to time already served. The 58-year-old now plans to work in carpentry and live with his family.
His re-sentencing came after the state changed its sentencing guidelines in 2013 because of overcrowding in the prison system.
Kennard’s niece, Patricia Jones, said to CBS42 that she had been visiting her uncle for years and she saw how much he changed. “It was a couple of years that he started talking about God and I knew he had changed.
“He wants to be forgiven for what he had done and he wants the opportunity to come back and learn how to survive.”
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