![]() The judge emphasized that only about half of the 3,800 officer positions were filled, despite a previous order. ![]() Last month, a federal court issued a 600-page opinion documenting persistent failures in the treatment of incarcerated people with mental illness. People with mental illness are isolated and neglected. Security is non-existent in the drug-filled dorms. No one wants to spend most of their waking hours within a prison, so for as long as I can remember, ADOC has been woefully understaffed. In a nutshell, a superhighway of illicit contraband, mostly drugs and cell phones, runs into the prisons stoking an economy maintained by extortion and violence. These reports came in the same month that two more incarcerated people died as a result of homicide All of his belongings were stolen,” they wrote. He was beaten twice by inmates and once by an officer. One of the officers involved subsequently threatened him. “There was a young, otherwise healthy individual delivered to the emergency room recently from Donaldson prison who suffered what I can only describe as severe neglect or torture via exposure while in isolation there and now likely with devastating neuro injury,” the doctor wrote.Īnd from a family of lawyers concerned about their nephew: “He experienced repeated sexual harassment and reported this on the Hot Line and identified officers involved. Now I’m hearing from emergency room doctors, from lawyers with political connections whose generally comfortable lives now intersect with the catastrophic failures at the Alabama Department of Corrections. Valid worries, with 37 incarcerated people dying from homicide, suicide, or drug-related causes last year, and more than 100 dying from these preventable causes since 2018. Usually they are from mothers, desperate to save sons who strayed into trouble and landed in prison. The root of the problems: “Culture, management deficiencies, corruption, policies, training, non-existent investigations, violence, illicit drugs, sexual abuse,” according to the DOJ.Īs a civil rights lawyer, I’d grown almost numb to the steady stream of reports arriving in my inbox about violence, chaos, and death within state prisons. Much ink has been spilled, and rightly so, informing the people of Alabama that the United States Department of Justice has declared the entire state prison system for men unconstitutional and is now suing the state over rampant Eight Amendment violations. Last year, lawmakers voted to spend an additional $1.3 billion on two, new mega prisons that will not relieve overcrowding but will only replace dilapidated prisons the state failed to maintain – even during the decade when the prison budget doubled. ![]() That’s 21% of the entire state general fund. It’s a lose-lose – for Alabama communities and taxpayers.īut it’s not too late to do something smarter.ĭepartment of Corrections 21% of Alabama’s general fundĪlready, Alabama taxpayers pour over $600 million into the Department of Corrections annually, as approved by the Legislature. This money will prop up brutal, dysfunctional places while we sacrifice investments in beneficial services and innovation. The largest single expenditure of the Covid wealth is going to one place – punishment.Īlabama is the only state in the nation that’s dedicated Covid funds meant for investment in healthcare, infrastructure, and recovery on prisons. This is taxpayer money we should pay attention. The State of Alabama suddenly has a lot of money.įederal funds are pouring into the state and lawmakers are figuring out right now how to spend this windfall. Today’s guest columnist is Carla Crowder. ![]()
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