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 […]
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 […]
By Scott Fuqua, Appleseed Legal Director A vigil was held on February 18th at the State Capitol to remember the people who have died in our prisons this decade. Most made mistakes that led to their incarceration. Most were suffering from addiction and were sentenced to a prison where hopelessness is endemic and drugs are more […]
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 […]
Alabama Appleseed has been featured in the prestigious Chronicle of Philanthropy! Here’s what they’re saying: “In a state dominated by a Republican supermajority and long resistant to criminal-justice reform, Alabama Appleseed has become one of the South’s most unexpectedly effective advocacy groups.” The article traces Appleseed’s leap into legal and reentry services, beginning with the […]
An Appleseed-supported bill that would bring more fairness to the parole revocation process and help prevent unnecessary revocations that do not contribute to public safety has been filed in the Alabama Legislature. SB254, sponsored by Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, would give the parole board greater discretion when someone on parole is arrested for a minor […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher More than six years after the State of Alabama was put on notice that its violent and dangerous prisons violate the United States Constitution, the death toll inside state prisons was nearly three times the national average. At least 202 people died inside Alabama prisons in 2025, Alabama Appleseed discovered […]
By Carla Crowder and Carl Green Carl Green learned how to provide emergency medical care to his fellow prisoners after they were beaten, stabbed, and cut inside Donaldson prison. Sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for a series of fast food restaurant robberies, Carl served 36 years in prison. No one counted exactly how many […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher William Thomas was found hanging inside his segregation cell at St. Clair Correctional Facility on Aug. 7, 2023. Although he lived, he’s still fighting to get his life back from the severe brain injury that has robbed him of his speech and mobility. Though William eventually was released from the […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Stephanie Lewis on Thursday was fighting to learn more about how her husband died at Childersburg Work Release facility in Alpine on Wednesday. No one would tell her where his body was. And there were rumors that his death was the result of excessive force by officers. Rodrequis Woods, 42, […]
Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice
400 South Union Street, Suite 355
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
2 Office Park Circle, Suite 10
Birmingham, AL 35223
Phone: (205) 963-7999
admin@alabamaappleseed.org