Entries by Carla Crowder

With prison officials absent, Alabama families plead with legislative prison oversight committee to stop the torture and death across the Department of Corrections

Speakers ranged from a teenager whose father was brutally killed to a retired lawyer whose father tried to reform Alabama’s prisons 40 years ago. By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher For just over three minutes, 17-year-old MaKayla Mount stood before members of the Legislative Joint Prison Oversight Committee and told the story of her father’s brutal […]

December 14, 2023 /0 Comments/by

New Justice Department Report Shows Incarceration Has Increased in Alabama, With No Evidence of Public Safety Benefits

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Alabama’s incarceration rate is again on the rise, outpacing most other states, nearly four years after the federal government sued the state over unconstitutional conditions in its dangerous, understaffed prisons.   Alabama had the 12th highest rate of increase in the number of people incarcerated in state prisons between 2021 and […]

December 11, 2023 /0 Comments/by
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For Jerry Boatwright, freedom is a hammer, a paintbrush, and a chance to take care of his family after 3 decades in prison

By Carla Crowder, Executive Director and Scott Fuqua, Staff Attorney Jerry Boatwright spent 34 years in an Alabama prison for a burglary conviction. He was supposed to die there. Instead, he’s home just in time to become the primary caregiver for his ailing brother, Randy. Jerry, 64, has always been a hard worker. At Holman […]

November 22, 2023 /0 Comments/by

“It’s hardest on stairs.”

The worsening toll of Stage 4 cancer in an Alabama prison. This is a follow up to our first story on Ronnie Peoples in Appleseed’s series “Cruel and Unusual” focusing on the people harmed by Alabama’s overreliance on excessive sentences, which trap people in deadly, dysfunctional prisons long after they have paid their debt. By […]

October 25, 2023 /0 Comments/by

Forty years in prison for cannabis plants. Yes, we’re still doing that in Alabama.

This story is part of Appleseed’s “Cruel and Unusual” series, focusing on the people harmed by Alabama’s overreliance on excessive sentences, which trap people in deadly, dysfunctional prisons long after they have paid their debt. By Carla Crowder, Executive Director Every night after Leon Hotchkiss finishes up at the south Alabama boat dealership where he […]

October 3, 2023 /0 Comments/by

The toll on Alabama families of uncontrolled violence in Alabama Department of Corrections’ prisons

“My daughter has nightmares and wakes up screaming and crying because all she sees is her dad being beaten and strangled and screaming for help.” – Christy Martin, whose daughter’s father was killed in prison. This story is part of Appleseed’s series “Cruel and Unusual” focusing on the people harmed by Alabama’s overreliance on excessive […]

September 21, 2023 /0 Comments/by

There was a gun in a maximum security prison. Incarcerated people say it was left to them to secure the area.

By Eddie Burkhalter, Researcher It’s been eleven days since Derrol Shaw walked the hallways of William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility carrying a semi-automatic pistol, and the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has yet to publicly mention the gun or provide the public with assurances that whatever security failures led to the bizarre series of events […]

August 24, 2023 /0 Comments/by

Appleseed Welcomes Elliot Spillers as our Advocacy Director

With over five years of experience in racial justice and people-centered community development work, I am thrilled to join the Alabama Appleseed family as Director of Advocacy. My work integrates project management, direct service, public education, and administrative management, in order to build people power, providing organizational support for communities to mobilize around progressive agendas […]

August 17, 2023 /0 Comments/by