USA: released after 36 years in prison for robbing a bakery

He showed up at the bar in prisoner attire, a striped red and white jumpsuit. Alvin Kennard, sentenced to life imprisonment for stealing $ 50.75 in 1983 from Alabama in the United States, learned Wednesday he was going to be released. "We all cried," his niece Patricia Jones told the local WBRC TV channel. We talk about his release for over twenty years! "

"The law of the three shots"

Alvin Kennard, now 58, was sentenced under the "Three Strikes Act". It provided at the time that a person already sentenced three times, was, in case of fourth offense, sent to prison for life.

Alvin Kennard had already been prosecuted and convicted on three counts in one case in 1979. The fourth time he appeared for stealing a bakery with a knife. No one had been hurt and his loot was $ 50.75.

In 2000, the law changed, offering the possibility of parole for these prisoners for life. As ABC states, this reform was not retroactive and Alvin Kennard was not automatically presented with the possibility of parole. It took a judge to seize the file himself so that he could be examined again.

An unknown release date

Alvin Kennard stayed close to his family. When the judge asked who would accompany him if he came out of prison, a dozen of his relatives got up, tells the local news site AL. Before being sent to prison, Alvin Kennard was working as a carpenter, a profession he would like to resume, he announced at the hearing.

The date of his release has not been announced yet. His request has yet to be examined by the Department of Prison Administration.