Entries by Carla Crowder

Happy 25th Anniversary Alabama Appleseed!

This year, Appleseed’s annual Celebrate Justice event looked back on 25 years of advocacy for marginalized and vulnerable Alabamians. We celebrated alongside longtime supporters, founding board members, elected officials, retired staff, and our beaming formerly incarcerated clients, who vibrantly shared their stories with the crowd.  In preparation for our 25th Anniversary, we combed the archives, […]

After investigation, no criminal charges in the torture and homicide of Daniel Williams at Staton prison.

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Daniel Terry Williams, 22, was likely smothered to death a year ago on Saturday, according to the state’s chief medical examiner, and there was evidence on his body that corroborate what witnesses have said was his kidnapping and torture over a period of several days inside Staton Correctional Facility. He […]

Charles Craig was incarcerated 19 years for a victimless crime.

“I hope my case will open up people’s eyes that there’s something wrong with the judicial system. It’s broken and it’s unfair.” by Carla Crowder, Executive Director and Becca Cardin, Appleseed attorney In 2006, Charles Craig was sentenced to life in prison when prosecutors invoked Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act following his drug conviction. He […]

Fentanyl is killing people inside Alabama’s largest, most expensive law enforcement agency – the Alabama Department of Corrections

by Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher The lives of two young men, both 31, who died 23 days apart this year in separate Alabama prisons, were ended largely by the same drug, according to state medical examiners.  Overdose deaths, and especially those deaths known or suspected of being caused by fentanyl, have soared in the state’s […]

Less than one year into a short prison sentence, Wesley Abernathy is gone. He was only 31.

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Like many Alabama families, Wesley Abernathy’s mother, wife, and sister paid thousands of dollars in extortion payments hoping the money would keep him alive during his short sentence in an Alabama prison. “We have gotten threats from other inmates in there. I was suckered into paying money,” his sister, Darby […]

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Welcome Summer Intern Katia Apedoh

“Alabama Appleseed is a natural bridge between the diversity, equity, and inclusion work that I have done in high school and what I plan to do in college. I am so grateful to Appleseed for the opportunity to learn about the problems that impact justice-involved people in Alabama and see what it means to be an […]

In an overcrowded prison dorm with no correctional officers present, a beloved brother and son is killed, one of four deaths at Donaldson prison in three days.

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher Deandre Roney knew his life was in danger, so he asked officers at Donaldson Correctional Facility to move him, as did his family. A man had been chasing him with a knife for days, and had already stabbed him once, the blade breaking off inside of him, his family told […]

Welcome Summer Intern London Breedlove

My name is London Breedlove and I am so excited for the opportunity I have been given to intern with Alabama Appleseed this summer! A Mississippi native, I was brought to Alabama on a tennis scholarship at the University of Montevallo. There I am a rising senior majoring in Political Science and minoring in prelaw. I […]

Welcome Legal Extern Tayler Walton

  My name is Tayler Walton and I have the absolute privilege of working for Alabama Appleseed this summer as their legal intern. I am a rising 3L at Cumberland School of Law and I could not be more ecstatic to be working for an organization like Appleseed. I went into law school wanting to […]