


Talking Trash: Why is the tiny Alabama city of Valley arresting people for unpaid trash bills?
Eddie Burkhalter, Fines and Fees, Leah Nelson, NewsBy Eddie Burkhalter and Leah Nelson
Public outcry over the arrest of an 82-year-old Valley woman for $77 in unpaid garbage bills was swift, but records show the city has for decades arrested people over unpaid trash bills.
Martha…

Looking past the political ads and sensational headlines, the surprising truth about crime rates
Eddie Burkhalter, NewsBy Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher
Alabamians are faced with competing narratives regarding crime and punishment. On one hand, Alabama’s prison system is brutal, broken, and fails to rehabilitate. On the other hand, some…

Welcome Extern Erin Nicole Smith!
Intern, News
My name is Erin Nicole Smith and I am humbled to work at Alabama Appleseed as a Policy Extern. I am currently a 2L at The University of Alabama School of Law and am seeking opportunities to embrace social justice activism. I have a bachelor’s…

Alabama man incarcerated for minor offenses is beaten by an ADOC officer; the assault is captured on video
NewsBy Eddie Burkhalter
An Alabama correctional officer, caught on video beating an incarcerated man on a prison rooftop last week, has been placed on mandatory leave.
The violence caught on camera and shared widely on social media…

Leaving prison on a walker, in time for his 80th birthday celebration
Alabama prisons, Carla Crowder, NewsBy Carla Crowder, Executive Director
Leaning on his walker, Robert Cheeks shuffled out of Donaldson Correctional Facility and took his first breaths as a free man in 37 years. He was 79 years old.
The state of Alabama meant for…
Latest News
- Celebrate Justice: Live at Woodlawn Theatre, Thursday, November 6, 2025 September 30, 2025
- Appleseed’s Executive Director is inducted into Florence Walk of Honor September 28, 2025
- Welcome Appleseed intern and UAB Senior Anahita Maleknia September 18, 2025
- Appleseed welcomes UA legal extern Nicholas Thoma September 16, 2025
- August at St. Clair prison: a supervisor arrested on drug trafficking charges, reports of guns, two suspected drug overdose deaths, and now a young man with asthma has died and his family has no answers. August 28, 2025
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