He was jailed 36 years ago for stealing $50.71 (£41.74) from a bakery, Alvin Kennard will taste freedom after his prison sentence was reduced.
Kennard, who was jailed for life in 1983, was handed the lengthy sentence under a US law introduced in the 1970s to deter repeat offenders.
The 58-year-old’s lawyer Carla Crowder argued that he would have received a 20-year maximum prison term under new guidelines.
An Alabama judge ordered him to be freed on Wednesday after reducing his sentence to time served.
Ms Crowder said Kennard plans to live with his family in Bessemer, Alabama, and work as a carpenter.
His niece told the US news channel WVTM: “We’ve just been praying and trusting in God that this day would come and it’s here, and we’re so grateful to God.”
Kennard was jailed under the three strikes provision of Alabama’s Habitual Felony Act which was designed to punish repeat offenders
