State leaders promised to find an Alabama Solution to the “deeply humiliating” federal findings. But 698 incarcerated people have since died in state prisons, a new $1 billion prison will not open until 2026, and the federal trial is scheduled for next year. By Eddie Burkhalter and Carla Crowder This week marks the fourth anniversary […]
John Coleman served 34 years for offenses involving no physical injury under Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act. Now he’s free and experiencing kindness for the first time in way too long. By Carla Crowder, Executive Director “I’m 86 years old and all alone. Please don’t let me die in prison. I’m not ready to die […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Alabama prison deaths are again surging, after state prisons saw a record high year of deaths in 2022. At least eight men have died in Alabama prisons this month, following 12 deaths in February and 12 in January, although the actual numbers are likely higher. Those 32 deaths include three […]
By Frederick Spight, Policy Director and Elaine Burdeshaw, Policy Associate As we look forward to the start of the 2023 legislative session, and the beginning of the Quadrennium, Appleseed plans to bring forth several legislative priorities. As is our custom, these initiatives are based on evidence and research that will advance the goals of […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Politicians across Alabama expressed concern and outrage when victims were not notified in advance of planned releases of several hundred people from Alabama Department of Corrections custody last week. Those notifications didn’t happen because of underfunded, troubled victim notification systems and an unwillingness by an array of state leaders […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher A recent report by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Council of State Governments (CSG) found that overall crime, including violent crime, across the U.S. and in Alabama, has been on the decline. The report’s findings undercut the pervasive narrative of surging crime used to frighten communities and support mass incarceration. But as […]
A bungled robbery in 1983 sent Lee Davis to prison on a life without parole sentence. Appleseed’s legal work brought him home. By Carla Crowder, Executive Director Lee Davis spent 39 years incarcerated for a robbery conviction in which no money was taken and no one was injured. At age 70, he is finally a […]
By Frederick Spight, Policy Director “Let us fight passionately and unrelenting for the goals of justice and peace, but let’s be sure that our hands are clean in this struggle. Let us never fight with falsehood and violence and hate and malice, but always fight with love…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke these words […]
Alabama prison deaths reach record levels in 2022. The Department of Corrections’ response? Less reporting on deaths. By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Eddie Richmond was 17 years old at the time of the robbery that led to his death sentence in the Alabama Department of Corrections. He was not sentenced to die; the United States […]
by Carla Crowder, Executive Director Willie Ingram, who served 39 years in prison after being convicted of a $20 robbery while armed with a pocketknife, celebrated his first Christmas and New Year’s Day as a free man. Mr. Ingram was originally sentenced to life imprisonment without parole under Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act; his priors […]
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