Entries by Carla Crowder

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Appleseed Post-Session Briefing: Two good bills passed, a prison oversight pilot created, and renewed optimism for continued prison reform in Alabama

Highlights: Appleseed succeeded in pushing two criminal justice reform bills over the finish line this session. We also helped develop a pilot program for independent prison oversight that will launch immediately. By working alongside justice-involved people and families of incarcerated Alabamians, Appleseed was able to identify issues that matter to the people most impacted by […]

April 20, 2026 /0 Comments/by

Chapter 2: The Process of Grieving

In recognition of National Crime Victims Rights Week, Appleseed is sharing a series of blog posts on grief, trauma, loss, and healing by our Community Navigator, Callie Greer. Callie is a powerful voice for survivors in Alabama. Based on her own experiences losing two children, working through grief, finding forgiveness, and passing on her life’s […]

April 20, 2026 /0 Comments/by

Chapter One: What it means to speak as a survivor

In recognition of National Crime Victims Rights Week, Appleseed is sharing a series of reflections on grief, trauma, loss, and healing by our Community Navigator, Callie Greer. Callie is a powerful voice for survivors in Alabama. Based on her own experiences losing two children, working through grief, finding forgiveness, and passing on her life’s lessons […]

April 19, 2026 /0 Comments/by
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Alabama Prison Healthcare Faces Spiraling Costs and Grim Uncertainty. A Smarter Way Forward is Within Our Grasp.

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher James Jones was hurting long before YesCare, the company contracted to provide medical care for those in Alabama prisons, diagnosed him with prostate cancer.  After Appleseed succeeded in getting Mr. Jones, now 78, released from prison in December 2024 and his treatments began outside of prison fences, his life and […]

April 13, 2026 /0 Comments/by
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Alabama Appleseed Applauds Agreement for a Prison Oversight Pilot Program

Years of relentless advocacy by families of incarcerated Alabamians has resulted in a new prison oversight pilot program to create transparency and accountability at the Alabama Department of Corrections. Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, who sponsored SB 316, the prison oversight bill, announced this development Wednesday on the Senate Floor. Stutts and Senate Pro Tem, Garlan […]

March 12, 2026 /0 Comments/by
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SB 316, Alabama’s Prison Oversight Bill, Has Been Filed. Now Let’s Get It Passed.

More oversight, transparency, and accountability could be coming to the Alabama Department of Corrections under SB 316, filed last week by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia. This bill is the result of years of investigations, litigation, and escalating prison expenditures that have failed to alleviate extreme violence, dysfunction, and the highest prison death rates in the […]

March 1, 2026 /0 Comments/by
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Appleseed’s Callie Greer receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Crime Survivors Speak

Team Appleseed and the incredible Callie Greer were honored this week in Montgomery by Crime Survivors Speak, a network of crime survivors who create healing communities, develop leaders, and drive policies that make everyone safer.  The group held a 200-person strong rally and march in Montgomery on Wednesday. Fore more than a decade, Callie has […]

February 25, 2026 /0 Comments/by
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Families from Florence, Dothan, Tuscaloosa, Prattville and Countless Places In Between Line the Alabama Capitol Steps Honoring the Hundreds of Lives Lost in Alabama State Prisons

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Stephanie Lewis stood in front of the Alabama State Capitol steps with hundreds of others on Wednesday and pleaded for the system that allowed her husband to die to change.  “It has to change. I know his life was not in vain,” Mrs. Lewis said of her husband’s January death […]

February 18, 2026 /0 Comments/by