Alabamians for Fair Justice: New prisons will not solve Alabama’s prison crisis

Montgomery, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that the state has awarded contracts of undisclosed monetary amounts to CoreCivic and Alabama Prison Transformation Partners for the construction of three new mega prisons.

The following statement is from Alabamians for Fair Justice:

“Since the ratification of the 13th Amendment, states have been building prisons to warehouse and re-enslave humans. Predictably, Black people went from being a small minority of people incarcerated to the majority in less than 10 years. That trend continues in Alabama and other states to this day. Building new prisons will not solve the problems facing Alabama’s prisons: overcrowding, understaffing, inhumane treatment, excessive force, and sexual and physical violence. A prison plan focused only on building more cages will only serve to feed the prison industrial complex, resulting in the disproportionate incarceration and exploitation of even more Black and Brown people to pad the pockets of private prison corporations. 

“CoreCivic, tasked with building new prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties, has a deplorable history of profiting off of people by jeopardizing the safety of its facilities and the people imprisoned within them for the sole purpose of making more money. Alabama Transformation Partners, a company with no publicly available information or presence on the internet, and no experience with construction, will be entrusted with erecting a mega prison in Bibb County. Prisons cage real people with medical, mental health, and rehabilitative needs. ATP has shown no ability to construct facilities capable of meeting these needs. Indeed, neither has the State of Alabama.

“People in Alabama’s prisons are dying. They are dying at the hands of brutal and corrupt guards and leaders who have done little to address the culture of violence, medical neglect, and drug smuggling that ADOC staff engage in. They are dying from COVID-19. They are dying as a result of inadequate health care. They are dying because of inhumane conditions. They are dying from corruption that allows drugs to flood the prisons. And people will continue to die if the only action officials take is building more prisons.

“If Alabama truly wants to address the prison crisis, lawmakers must pass sentencing reforms like abolishing the Habitual Felony Offender Act and making the 2013 Sentencing Guidelines retroactive; investing in prison alternatives and community resources such as diversion programs, mental health treatment, and drug treatment; requiring the parole board to release more people; and creating a diverse and inclusive oversight committee to hold prison officials accountable for working to end the abuse of incarcerated people by ADOC correctional officers.

“The U.S. Department of Justice has already told us twice that brick and mortar is not the answer to the conditions that the DOJ found ‘routinely violate the constitutional rights of prisoners.’ Data-driven, humane policy solutions are needed now. It is time for the State of Alabama to put people over political interests and corporate profits.” 

-

Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition of individuals directly impacted by the criminal justice system and supporting organizations united to advance bold, evidence-based solutions to Alabama’s prison crisis. A full list of our members can be viewed here. 

Activists Call for Increased Testing As COVID-19 Cases Continue to Increase in State Prisons

Birmingham, Ala. — On Tuesday, May 12, news broke of the death of another person in the Alabama Department of Corrections’ jurisdiction. Colony Wilson, 40, had been at the Birmingham work release center before complaining of feeling sick over the weekend. The cause of death has not been announced. 

Alabamians for Fair Justice said: 

“The death of Colony Wilson marks the fourth death of an incarcerated person that the state is investigating in a matter of weeks. While the causes of death in these cases are still pending, the lack of testing being conducted by the Alabama Department of Corrections is alarming. Last week, one of the incarcerated people tested positive at the Hamilton Aged & Infirmed Facility, which is both one of ADOC’s most overcrowded facilities - at 230 percent capacity as of January - and the only facility designated specifically for people who are older and who have serious medical issues. In short, they are the very people who are at most serious risk if exposed to COVID-19. Still, ADOC has only tested seven incarcerated people at that facility. 

Public health experts and advocates have been sounding the alarm on this risk for months now, while we’ve been watching outbreaks unfold in numerous other states, and yet the state of Alabama has done little to release people from these violent, overcrowded prisons. Every day that the State of Alabama waits to test, treat, and release is a day that people are being unnecessarily put at risk. Neighboring states like Tennessee recognize this need and have implemented testing programs for all incarcerated people and prison staff. 

We call on the Alabama Department of Public Health to work with the Alabama Department of Corrections to ensure system-wide testing immediately and to provide testing updates daily along with the racial demographic breakdown of those testing positive. We also call on the Alabama Legislature to earmark a portion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to fund expansive testing of incarcerated people, prison staff, and their families. It is time for ADOC to catch up and begin testing everyone in their care. Anything less will be more blood on their hands.”

-

Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition of individuals directly impacted by the criminal justice system and supporting organizations united to advance bold, evidence-based solutions to Alabama’s prison crisis. A full list of our members can be viewed here. 

AFJ calls for release of Alabama prisoners following news report that widespread infection and deaths are expected

Montgomery, Ala. — Once again, Alabama is confronted with a life-threatening crisis in its prison system. And once again – according to recent reporting – the state has prioritized warehousing thousands of our community members over taking steps to ensure their health and safety. Despite calls for action, the State of Alabama has failed to act.

Over the weekend, AL.com reported on a 263-page Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) plan that outlined dire measures in response to an outbreak of COVID-19 - calling in the National Guard, forcing incarcerated people to manufacture protective equipment, and preparing for mass deaths. Faced with a choice between releasing the people most at-risk of contracting COVID-19 or keeping them warehoused, ADOC plans to order 312 body bags.

It is not too late for state leaders to take action to mitigate this crisis. The dramatic steps outlined in the 263-page response plan need not be taken if our State follows the advice of law enforcement officers, Alabama faith leaders and community members, legal experts, health professionals, and incarcerated activists: reduce overcrowding and enable social distancing by releasing people from custody. 

There are more than 1,100 people aged 65 or older incarcerated in ADOC - people who, according to the CDC, are at higher risk for severe illness. More incarcerated people - people like Mr. Brooker, for instance - have underlying illnesses like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, or others that also make them especially vulnerable. As of 2016, ADOC identified at least 6,000 people who have a serious medical need requiring treatment. The inadequate provision of medical treatment is the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit. As ADOC’s own plan acknowledges, the department is not equipped to provide the care necessary to respond to this crisis. Its own data show it has tested just one tenth of one percent of the incarcerated population - 21 individuals - including zero people at Hamilton, the facility designed for people who are older and have increased health needs. 

With two confirmed cases of ADOC staff contracting the virus and new information showing transmission can also occur from asymptomatic individuals, it is imperative that ADOC act now. These confirmed cases have already had the potential to spread the virus to others in custody and to other staff members. This jeopardizes not only those on the inside with no choice to practice “social distancing,” but also continues to put our communities in jeopardy as staff return home, to grocery stores, and to other essential service facilities. ADOC's inability to respond to this crisis and mitigate the spread of the disease, as outlined in this report, is not only a failure to secure the health and well-being of every person inside our prisons but further endangers the well-being of the public. 

This is a matter of life and death. In light of this report and increasing risk to incarcerated people, ADOC staff, their families, and our communities, ADOC and The Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) should immediately:

1. Publicly release the 2020 Pandemic Continuity of Operations Plan.

2. Abide by all CDC and ADOC guidelines for COVID-19 safety in prison facilities.

3. Provide hygiene supplies and PPEs to all incarcerated people. This includes soap, hand sanitizer, and cleansers necessary to maintain one’s living spaces while incarcerated. AFJ is working with ADOC to provide these products to incarcerated people.

4. Release every person fitting the following criteria:

   1. Those outlined in the AFJ recommendations delivered to State leadership on March 18, 2020, including older adults; people under the age of 18; people with chronic illnesses, complex medical needs, compromised immune systems, or disabilities; and pregnant people

   2. People within twelve months of the end of their sentence

   3. People who have served 20 consecutive years or more in prison for a non-capital offense, not involving a child, and not a sexual offense

   4. People already deemed parole-eligible

   5. People currently under deferral after being denied parole over the past 5 years, but who were otherwise eligible for parole pending completion of further programming

   6. People currently serving a split-sentence, where the split sentence is for five years or less

   7. People who qualify for mandatory parole pursuant to Title 15-22-26.2, Code of Alabama 1975, but who have not yet been released 

5. Work with re-entry organizations and released individuals to ensure that they have safe housing and a plan for re-entry, similar to those for people being released on parole.

Moreover, it is unacceptable that BPP has halted hearings. As paroles have slowed for more than a year, Alabama’s prison population is already expected to balloon in the coming year by about 3700 prisoners. We call upon the Bureau to immediately resume hearings, prioritizing those people eligible for medical and mandatory parole. 

One year ago last week, the federal government decried ADOC’s complete failure to protect the safety of its incarcerated population. They urged Alabama’s elected officials  to take action, warning that inaction would result in more violence and death. The past year of unprecedented violence has tragically confirmed that fear. Now is the time for our state leaders to choose another path, and follow the advice of experts and advocates by releasing people from its unhygienic, overcrowded prisons. As the Free Alabama Movement wrote in their recent article, “to continue to employ or incarcerate the above people while the deadly virus spreads through the system would effectively be sentencing too many to death.”

-

Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition of individuals directly impacted by the criminal justice system and supporting organizations united to advance bold, evidence-based solutions to Alabama’s prison crisis. A full list of our members can be viewed here. 

Alabamians for Fair Justice demands Coronavirus precautions for people in Alabama prisons and jails

Montgomery, Ala. — With the coronavirus spreading quickly across the country, organizations with Alabamians for Fair Justice demand that officials ensure the health and safety of people in jails and prisons, and release those people most at risk of suffering serious complications or death from contracting COVID-19. 

The coalition of individuals directly impacted by the criminal justice system and supporting organizations are calling on Alabama, via a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn, to immediately develop evidence-based protocols and proactively plan the prevention and management of a COVID-19 outbreak. A copy of the letter was shared with Executive and Legislative leadership.

Imprisoned and detained people are highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses such as COVID-19, said the coalition letter.  People incarcerated in jails and prisons are housed in close quarters and are often in poor health. According to the April 2019 DOJ findings letter, Alabama’s prisons are already unconstitutionally overcrowded. Recent reporting has also shown that the Alabama county jail population has quadrupled between 2014 and 2018. The overcrowding in these facilities puts the people incarcerated there at serious risk during a viral outbreak. Without the active engagement of those who administer these facilities, they have little ability to learn about ongoing public health crises or to take necessary preventative measures if they do manage to learn of them.”

Alabama should also comply with state and national public health care guidelines; educate both staff and the people detained in local, state, and federal facilities on the dangers of the virus and how to avoid contracting it; keep infected staff out of facilities and isolate individuals who have tested positive; avoid lockdowns; regularly screen and test all individuals in the facility and those who work there; ensure free and accessible phone communication with family members and confidential access to legal counsel; release elderly and medically fragile people before they contract the disease; release people in pretrial detention who are charged with nonviolent offenses; limit future pretrial detention by issuing citations rather than arresting and booking people into jail; and approve early release of people who are within six months of their end of sentence date.  

This has the potential to be a statewide health crisis. But Alabama could also lead the way and show other states how to manage this situation properly.  A positive step has already been taken with the release of many detained peoples who have a bond of less than $5,000, a step also being done in states like Ohio, New York and Nevada.

###

Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition made up of formerly incarcerated individuals and family members of those currently or recently serving time in Alabama’s prisons, advocates, and civil justice organizations.  

Alabamians for Fair Justice Coalition Urges State Lawmakers to Repeal Habitual Offender Law

Group Argues for Reforms to Reduce Overcrowding, Over-sentencing in Alabama’s Prisons 

Montgomery, Ala. — Today in Montgomery, over a hundred advocates for criminal justice reform will urge Alabama lawmakers to adopt reforms to help alleviate Alabama’s prison crisis. Alabamians from across the state will push for major changes that would help make prison sentences proportionate to the crimes committed, prevent people convicted of minor offenses from going to prison, and provide needed supports for people re-entering communities.  Today, Alabama’s prison are roughly 170 percent over capacity with staffing levels at 30 percent. 

In April 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) warned Alabama that the conditions in the male prisons likely violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment.  The DOJ letter found Alabama’s prisons do not protect people from violence, sexual abuse, and fail to provide safe living conditions.  Alabama’s prison system was also found to have “persistent and severe shortages of mental-health staff and correctional staff, combined with chronic and significant overcrowding,” in in 2017 state-wide ruling in Braggs v. Dunn.   

“It is important for Alabama to see the people behind the prison walls,” said  LaTonya Tate, executive director, Alabama Justice Initiative, and 2018 Soros Justice Fellow.  “These are real fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, wives and husbands behind every excessive prison sentence. Lawmakers need to understand that incarcerated Alabamians, their families, and their supporters are constituents too. Their voices matter.”

The lobby day is organized by the Alabamians for Fair Justice (AFJ) coalition.   

AFJ’s legislative priorities includes:

• Repealing Alabama’s “three strikes” law, also called the Habitual Felony Offender Act, or HFOA.  About 6,000 people in Alabama are serving escalated sentences based on prior offenses, often committed as teenagers. The law permits a Life Without Parole sentence for a single Class A felony if someone has a prior minor drug or property conviction.  About 500 Alabamians are sentenced to die in prison for non-homicide crimes under this law.

• Reducing sentences for marijuana possession.  Each year, nearly 1,000 people face felony convictions for marijuana possession, a “crime” that is legal for nearly half of the population in the United States.  Alabama spends roughly $22 million tax dollars per year to enforce possession laws.     

• Making the 2013 sentencing guidelines retroactive.  The 2013 presumptive sentencing guidelines were a major contributor to Alabama’s prison population declining.  Now, hundreds of people sentenced before 2013 still serve longer sentences than they would face if sentenced now – and for nonviolent crimes. AFJ asks for the Legislature to apply the same guidelines to people convicted prior to the new guidelines.

• Overhaul the state’s community corrections, diversion, and alternative court programs to make them more accessible, especially to people without money, and more accountable to the taxpayers of Alabama.  Currently, these programs have no uniform standards, lack necessary oversight, and are funded by the participants.  

• Reform the state’s parole system.  Roughly nine out of every 10 people up for parole were denied since Governor Kay Ivey appointed Charles Graddick as the director of Alabama’s Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.  If this rate continues, ACLU of Alabama estimates the state prison population will increase by 3,700 people due to the dramatic drop in paroles being granted. 

Alabama spends $500 million in tax dollars each year to house more than 22,000 people, yet the state’s prisons remain dangerous, overcrowded, and understaffed. 

Governor Ivey’s main solution to Alabama’s unsafe prisons is to spend $2.6 billion taxpayer dollars “lease” three new mega-prisons that would be built by a private, for-profit corporation.

“When you have the worst prisons in the country, the solution is not to build more. The solution is to enact smart, commonsense reforms to provide treatment, services, and alternatives in communities and keep people out of prison,”  said Tate.

###

Alabamians for Fair Justice is a coalition made up of formerly incarcerated individuals and family members of those currently or recently serving time in Alabama’s prisons, advocates, and civil justice organizations.