A man from Alabama spent 36 years behind bars after stealing $ 50. He is about to go free.

A man from Alabama, who spent nearly 36 years in jail after stealing $ 50, will soon be released under new sentencing guidelines that challenge the law of the United States. State on three strokes.

Alvin Kennard, 58, was serving a life sentence without parole.

But his sentence was changed by Judge David Carpenter in Jefferson County on Wednesday, which means he should soon be out of jail.

The state's penitentiary department still has to treat Kennard's system. He was not released immediately after the decision. As of Friday morning, he was still registered as an inmate at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, located just outside Bessemer, Alabama.

"We just pray and trust God that this day will come and be here, and we are so grateful to God," Kennard's niece Patricia Jones told WVTM.

Kennard was found guilty of stealing a bakery on Jan. 24, 1983, in a crime costing him $ 50.75, reports the Birmingham News, citing court records.

This bakery crime took place after Kennard broke into a vacant gas station, leading him to plead guilty to three charges of burglary and robbery in 1979. The law on the usual offenders of Alabama.

But in 2013, the Alabama Sentencing Commission adopted new guidelines that, if they had been put in place when Kennard stole the bakery, would have made his previous crime not serious enough to cause a sentence. in perpetuity with no possibility of parole, the defense lawyers said.

If these new standards had been put in place at the time, Kennard could not have been jailed for more than 20 years, said his lawyer, Carla Crowder. He could have been eligible for parole after 10 years.

Kennard told the judge Wednesday that he still had remorse for his crimes.

"I'm sorry about what I did," said Kennard, wearing an orange and white jail suit, "I was wrong.

The district attorney's office did not oppose the change of sentence. Attorney Lane Tolbert, however, said his office did not err in enforcing the law.

"But let me be clear, it's not about $ 50," Tolbert said.

Kennard stated that after his release, he was considering living with his family in Bessemer and working in the carpentry.

Associated press contributed.