Tutwiler and Staton Prisons

Inmates work out in the yard at Staton Correctional Facility Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, in Elmore, Ala. Sprinkled among the robbers, murderers and burglars are prisoners convicted of a host of obscure and rarely prosecuted felonies. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

Rare convictions

In fiscal year 2012, Alabama registered a single conviction for each of these offenses:

Abuse and neglect with physical injury

Furnishing alcohol to schoolchildren

Possession of more than 5 gallons of alcohol

Attempted second-degree arson

Attempted second-degree domestic violence

Attempted first-degree extortion

Attempted first-degree kidnapping

Attempted production of child pornography

Attempted first-degree possession of a forged instrument

Attempted first-degree possession of marijuana

Attempted second-degree robbery

Attempted solicitation of a minor by computer

Attempted first-degree theft by deception

Bigamy

Violating the Community Notification Act -- juvenile registration

Computer crime -- obtain by fraud

Computer crime -- willful taking of data

Conspiracy to commit capital murder

Conspiracy to commit second-degree robbery

Conspiracy to commit first-degree theft by deception

by fraud of drugs Obtaining records by false pretense

Criminal use of defense spray

Custodial sexual abuse

Discharging a gun into an unoccupied school bus or building

Second-degree domestic violence -- criminal mischief

Second-degree domestic violence -- witness intimidation

Third-degree domestic violence -- menacing

Giving drug paraphernalia to a minor

Sale of ephedrine (second & subsequent offense)

Facilitating the solicitation of a child for sexual contact

Filing a false incident report First-degree identity theft

Illegally obtaining gas, electricity or water

Unlawful act of three or more inmates

Altering, forcing or selling an insurance card Killing or disabling livestock

Failure to provide aid in a traffic wreck resulting in death or injury

Unauthorized use by force of a motor vehicle

Capital murder by someone convicted of murder in previous 20 years

Capital murder – arson Capital murder -- law enforcement officer

Capital murder by someone under a life sentence Intent to distribute pornography

Second-degree promoting prostitution

Use of a public possession for personal gain

Accepting a bribe by a public servant

Bribing a public servant

Transfer of a recording device without consent

Illegal disposal of scrap tires

Providing false information about secondary metal recycling

Possession of stolen metal for recycling

Fraudulent sale of securities discharging a gun into an occupied school bus or building

Second-degree solicitation of arson

Solicitation of a child by computer

First-degree theft – shoplifting

Threatening state officials Receiving a bribe by a witness

Last week, AL.com provided a picture of who fills Alabama’s prisons – a lot of robbers, murderers, burglars, rapist and thieves.

Those offenses make up the bulk of the most common convictions of people doing time in Alabama. Drug offenders make up a smaller slice. You can read the story and search our database of the most common offenses that make up the prison population here.

This week, though, we show the other side of the coin: What are the least common offenses that have landed people behind bars?

It turns out there are some obscure and rarely prosecuted crimes on the books. There are others that likely do not normally result in prison time.

According to a snapshot of the Alabama prison population on Sept. 5, the most recent day analyzed by the Alabama Department of Corrections, only one out of more than 25,000 people locked up had first-degree bail jumping as the most serious offense.

Another inmate was the only prisoner serving time for failure to affix a marijuana stamp. That’s right, even though marijuana is illegal in Alabama, a state law requires people who have it to buy a tax stamp and put it on their contraband. The tax rate is $3.50 per gram if the owner has 42.5 grams or more.

According to the pro-marijuana group NORML, Alabama is one of 20 states with tax stamp laws on the books. It withstood a court challenge in 1991.

Marijuana smokers rarely pay the tax, though; most probably do not even know about it. And judging from the fact that only one person was in prison last year for violating the law, it appears to be rarely enforced.

Other offenses that have a solitary violator in prison include third-degree assault of a sports official, giving drug paraphernalia to a minor and first-degree theft of lost property. In all, there were 18 inmates who were the only prisoners convicted a certain crime. There were 49 inmates whose crimes showed up as the top offense of conviction fewer than 10 times.

The collection of obscure and rarely prosecuted felonies is even bigger when examining the convictions in any given year. Sentencing Commission data show that in fiscal year 2012, for instance, 59 people were convicted of something that nobody else in the state was that year.

Examples included furnishing alcohol to schoolchildren, bigamy, criminal use of defense spray, first-degree theft – shoplifting, illegal disposal of scrap tires and custodial sexual abuse. That last offense has come into the spotlight recently amid revelations of sexual misconduct by corrections officers at the Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka.

According to the governor's office, authorities referred allegations against 30 corrections officers to the Elmore County District Attorney's Office from 2009 to 2013. Such cases are hard to prosecute, and many accused guards have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses.

Updated at 10:02 a.m. to reflect that the Community Notification Act violation in the list was for a subsection applying to juveniles.

Search the database below, drawn from data from the Alabama Sentencing Commission.

by Caspio

to load this Caspio

.