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We said in a January 2014 editorial that the situation in Alabama's prisons -- Tutwiler women's prison, in particular -- was a shameful stain on our state. And we called for justice here.

We have spent the time since investigating the prison system and engaging Alabamians deeply in discussion of possible solutions.

After an initial wave of denial, officials such as Gov. Robert Bentley and Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas eventually admitted to deep problems, to not only a need for change, but the inevitability of it.

Yet it's come too slow.

So we end this year much as we began it: Calling for decisive action on the behalf of every decent Alabamian everywhere. This time, though, we are heartened by the many voices who amplify that call. We've listened to reformers who have labored tirelessly here for decades, and heard from thousands of everyday citizens of all political persuasions who have begun to understand the enormity of the crisis that confronts us.

Reform must start with an admission that the approach of the past two decades simply has not worked.

The prison system needs new leadership, from someone not steeped in its longstanding culture. It needs someone who won't tolerate what our investigations have uncovered: shuffling and even promotion of staff with records of misconduct.

Three years is enough with Kim Thomas at the helm. It's time for him to step down or be replaced.

But that is not enough.

We said in January that Tutwiler -- where more than half the staff has engaged in sexual misconduct with inmates while working on the taxpayer dime -- should be closed.

The prison administration is so resistant that we are not even permitted inside to witness purported improvements. And there has not been a single new prosecution for law-breaking by staff. We say it again. The place is rotten, and at nearly 75 years old, well past its useful life. Its toxic past simply can't be rehabilitated.

Then what is the answer?

Alabama will need new prison capacity to alleviate its problems -- people can deny it, but there's no way to avoid it -- so let's start with a replacement for Tutwiler. While Alabama's general population has grown by 23 percent since 1977, the prison population has seen an exponentially higher rise -- more than 840 percent.

Changes since 2009 have successfully slowed both felony convictions and new prison sentences, but our state facilities remain stubbornly packed, in part because one in three prisoners eligible for parole doesn't get it. The pardons and parole system, too, is under-staffed and hamstrung by rules that work against progress.

Amid this depressing reality, there were encouraging signs in 2014.

High among them was the extent of engagement on these issues among many Alabamians. There are still too many hoping, against all realism, that things can just go on, but at our public forums and through online conversations people shared personal stories and deliberated difficult options. They've told us, again and again, that Alabama's prison system isn't rehabilitating anyone, and that it is time for change.

The state has launched its own Justice Reinvestment initiative, and there is substantial study of best practices that are working in other places.

Among the reforms Alabama's new prisons leadership should embrace -- with full support and encouragement from the governor and legislature -- are:

Wider use of house arrest, weekend imprisonment, electronic monitoring and other community-based alternatives, which cost less than imprisonment and have been proven to keep intact the kinds of support systems that offenders will need when they emerge from punishment.

More spending in areas of both probation and parole, so that appropriate supervision follows those released from prison, and a better scoring system for identifying people in the system who might successfully take advantage of early release.

A new strategy for sanctioning violators -- so-called "swift and sure" punishments that may involve a weekend in jail but cut back on the lengthy, court-involved probation revocation process that lands people back in prison. A new approach to drug crime, because imprisoning so many addicts is not working.

Efforts to equip inmates with job skills, and an end to the stupid practice of making it almost impossible for ex-cons to get a driver's license so that they can get to work.

Incentives for employers of released prisoners (it is at least ironic that the state hires out prisoners but does little to help them find work once released).

New classification of some felony offenses so that the three-strikes law that has contributed to much of the growth in the prison population is triggered less often for less-serious crime.

When the state legislature convenes in March, there should be an omnibus bill ready to enact reforms. The approach, rightly, would be all or nothing. There is too much at stake to allow legislators to cherrypick pieces of the plan so they can look like they're doing something while the larger problems go on.

Now comes the hard part. Alabama will simply have to spend more money on prisons. It can't build its way out of the problem -- the capacity needed is not affordable -- but the extreme over-crowding demands some immediate relief. Tutwiler isn't the only prison that's just too old to be effective, and county-level jails across Alabama face similar problems, so the population can't simply be off-loaded.

A near-term increase in prison spending -- Alabama per prisoner cost ranks in the bottom five among American states -- is needed to effect longterm reductions.

Throughout the year have come warnings that if Alabama doesn't act, the federal courts will intervene. They could order mass prisoner release, as was done in California.

They could order more costly changes than Alabama needs. Cynics -- and some of them are well-connected in political circles -- have suggested our legislators would prefer this, so they can blame the federal government for whatever happens.

They could even ignore court orders and create a standoff, daring federal courts to find them in contempt, jingoistically re-fighting the Civil War as cover for not doing their jobs.

It falls to all of us to tell our legislators clearly that this road cannot be taken. Alabama can and must take care of its own house. We do not need or want federal intervention. These challenges fall to our elected state leaders when they convene in Montgomery.

We ask them to listen to the decent people of the state of Alabama, who ask for moral leadership, who expect reform.

For far too long, taxpayers have been paying for state-sanctioned cruelty. It is time now for redemption.

We are strong enough to clean this shameful stain.