Blog – Alabama Appleseed

The State of Justice Blog

Summer's Story

By Leah Nelson, Research Director from the Appleseed report Afterward Summer Sturdivant, an activist and pastry chef from Selma, Ala., watched her little brother die. He lay in the street while the police captured the man who shot him.…

Four Years After the U.S. Department of Justice Warning, Alabama's Prisons Have Only Gotten Worse

Alabama prisons, Carla Crowder, Eddie Burkhalter

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…

Leaving prison and finding joy at age 88

Alabama prisons, Carla Crowder

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…

So far this year, someone has died every other day in an Alabama prison.

Alabama prisons, Eddie Burkhalter, News

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…

Alabama leaders promised an automated, statewide victim notification system 15 years ago. We’re still waiting for it.

Eddie Burkhalter, News

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…

New Data Tool from Council of State Governments Should Help Guide Criminal Justice Decisions

Eddie Burkhalter, News

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…