Alvin Kennard in the courtroom in Bessemer, Alabama, shortly before hearing he will be released after 36 years in prison: AP

An Alabama man who served 36 years in prison for stealing $50.75 (£41 today) from a bakery will finally be released.

Alvin Kennard was given a life sentence without parole in 1983 after being convicted of first degree robbery.

But because he had two previous convictions he fell foul of Alabama’s infamous Habitual Felony Offender Act, known as the “three strikes law”.

This meant anyone convicted of a Class A felony offence, such as first degree robbery, who had two prior felony convictions was automatically sentenced to life in prison.

Mr Kennard, who was aged just 22 when sent to jail in 1983, had languished in prison without any hope of release for decades despite the relatively minor offence of stealing $50.75.

But the 58-year-old’s case was spotted by a compassionate judge and he was assigned as his lawyer Carla Crowder, the executive director of Alabama Appleseed Centre for Law and Justice.

Ms Crowder successfully persuaded circuit judge David Carpenter Mr Kennard’s whole-life sentence was disproportionate, noting if he had committed the burglary today the maximum possible sentence would have been 20 years.

The judge agreed, and re-sentenced Mr Kennard to time already served in jail, effectively ordering his release after 36 years behind bars.

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“It’s incredibly unfair and unjust, the hundreds of people in Alabama serving life without parole for nonviolent, non-homicide crimes,” Ms Crowder told The Guardian.

“What’s extraordinary about Mr Kennard is that even when he thought he was going to be in prison for the rest of his life, he really turned his life around.

“He is overwhelmed at this opportunity, but has remained close with his family, so he has incredible support.”

Mr Kennard, who appeared in the courtroom shackled and wearing a red-and-white striped prison uniform, reportedly told the court he intended to find work as a carpenter, the profession he was in when arrested in 1983.

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His friends and family were also present when his sentenced was reduced by the judge.

“Hallelujah, glory be to God,” his niece Patricia Jones told the local TV station WBRC. “All of us [were] crying. We’ve been talking about it for, I don’t know, 20-plus years, about being free.

“We’re just going to sit down and talk to him and see what he wants to do. He say he want to get him a job, he want to support himself and we’re going to support him.”

Habitual offender or three strike laws spread quickly across the United States during from the 1970s as the crime rate soared.

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Dozens of states now have similar laws on their statute books, but their effectiveness in deterring crime has recently come into question, alongside criticism of their propensity to harshly punish minor offences.

Alabama has now slightly relaxed its own habitual offender law, allowing Judge Carpenter to facilitate Mr Kennard’s release.

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