By Callie Greer, Appleseed Community Navigator Since 2021, I’ve been a part of a community roundtable called the Community Advisory Group (CAG) at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program. Six individuals were chosen and invited to lead the roundtable, and the main topic was poverty and how it’s the catalyst that precipitates life without wealth. […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Research Ronnie Peoples stood alongside Bradley Black in St. Clair Correctional Facility and the two men hugged before Mr. Peoples walked outside as a free man for the first time in 33 years. Mr. Black, a welding instructor at the prison’s trade school, worked for decades alongside Mr. Peoples, who kept […]
By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher After he was beaten on Nov. 6th, Joshua Hamer was placed back into his bunk at Bibb Correctional Facility unconscious, and wasn’t found until the next day. He never regained consciousness and died 16 days later. Mr. Hamer, who was 41, was imprisoned on a probation violation stemming from an […]
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, […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice
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