Blog – Alabama Appleseed

The State of Justice Blog

How an idea becomes a bill becomes a law: Looking back at the campaign to curb debt-based drivers license suspensions in Alabama

By Leah Nelson, Research Director When Teon Smith and I got to talking at a June 2018 event for people who needed legal assistance, I think it’s fair to say that neither of us expected we were making an acquaintance that would change…

Why this report?

News

As victim’s rights week draws to a close, we would like to share a bit more about why we published Afterward, who we are, and what we hope will come next. By Leah Nelson, Research Director Alabama Appleseed has built a reputation…

¡HICA!: “They know that we’re scared to call the police.”

Leah Nelson

By Leah Nelson, Research Director from the Appleseed report Afterward On a rainy Thursday in early March, Alabama Appleseed sat down in the offices of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (¡HICA!) with 11 women who were victims…

Summer's Story

Leah Nelson

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…