Welcome Legal Extern Joe Manasco

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My name is Joe Manasco. I will be an extern this semester at Alabama Appleseed,
assisting with legal research. I am a proud Alabamian (I call both Huntsville and Jasper
my hometowns) and a 2L at Georgetown Law.

Growing up, I didn’t have many opportunities to travel— so Alabama was all I knew.
Despite having nothing to compare it to, I always believed there was something unique about our state. It amazes me that, somehow, there’s enough room in Alabama’s heart to hold deep love and kindness alongside an equally deep desire for cruelty and anger. I am fascinated by how that dynamic has molded Alabama’s past. I want to do my part to ensure that Alabama acts only on the good parts of its heart in the future.

After graduating high school, I knew I wanted to do something to help people, so I decided to become a preacher. While I pursued my ministry degree, and for a brief time after graduation, I worked as a youth minister in Tennessee. Following that, I preached at a church back home in Alabama. During that time, I started hearing about the deaths and ongoing despair in ADOC prisons. I began reading books that highlighted racial and other social injustices that infect our criminal legal system. I thought about heroes like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rep. John Lewis, standing against injustice no matter the cost. I reflected on my struggles growing up in Alabama. I noticed that certain principles held deeply by myself and many other Alabamians— love, mercy, compassion, and justice—were often painfully absent from our state policy generally and criminal justice policy especially.

All these factors inspired me to go to law school and ultimately led me to Alabama Appleseed. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of an organization that preserves hope for Alabama’s future and works diligently to improve Alabama today.

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Death toll inside Alabama prisons reaches 277 in 2024

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By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher

Deandre Roney died June 9, 2024, after being stabbed at Donaldson Prison.

 

There were 277 deaths in Alabama prisons in 2024, a slight decline from the record high 325 from the previous year, but the state’s prison deaths remain more than four times the national average. Appleseed obtained last year’s death count through a records request to the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC). 

Although the official count from ADOC puts last year’s deaths at 277, the actual number could be higher. Appleseed’s records request to ADOC last year seeking the names and dates of death for those incarcerated persons who died in 2023 produced a list that included 325 deaths, which was a record high, but subsequent records requests to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, which collected in custody death data from ADOC for submission to the federal government, and ADOC’s own quarterly reports, included deaths that were not identified in the 325 supplied to Appleseed by ADOC. Appleseed is working to clarify the actual number of deaths in 2023. 

Alabama’s prisoner mortality rate is 1,358 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a national average across state prisons of 330 deaths per 100,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The large numbers of deaths last year only add to the tally of deaths since the federal government put Alabama on notice. There have been 1,322 deaths in Alabama prisons from the April 2019 release of the U.S. Department of Justice’s report detailing the horrific violence and unconstitutionally dangerous conditions in the state’s prisons through the end of last year. 

The federal government in December 2020 sued the state and the Department of Corrections alleging that the state “fails to provide adequate protection from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, fails to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and subjects prisoners to excessive force at the hands of prison staff.” The state has paid private, contract attorneys more than $20 million to defend these conditions and the trial has been pushed until April, 2026.

These deaths take a toll on families across the state, devastating parents, siblings, and others who held out hope that their incarcerated loved ones would someday be free and home with them. The following are just a few of the many deaths we’ve learned about this year:

 

Klifton Adam Bond (source Facebook)

The fourth person to die in 2024 was Klifton Adam Bond, 38, who was found dead in his cell at St. Clair Correctional Facility on Jan. 4, 2024. Mr. Bond was attacked on Nov. 6, 2023 at Donaldson Correctional Facility and remained in a hospital intensive care unit for 12 days, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of his mother. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joshua Hamer with his son Joey (photo courtesy of his family)

A more recent death was that of Joshua Hamer, a 41-year-old father who was beaten to death in November. He’d been incarcerated on a probation violation stemming from an 8-year-old theft conviction for not returning Redbox rental movies and video game disks in 2016, according to court records. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chase Mathis died inside Elmore Correctional Facility on June 4 in the minutes after his father last spoke to him by phone.

Chase Mathis died inside Elmore Correctional Facility on June 4, 2024, in what the autopsy shows that the state’s medical examiner believes was an accidental “mixed Drug toxicity (fentanyl and fluorofentanyl).”

“I know why he was in the prison, but he shouldn’t have died there,” Mr. Mathis’s father, Tim Mathis, told Appleseed. He places the blame for his son’s overdose death squarely on the back of ADOC for allowing drugs inside the prisons. 

 

 

 

 

 

Kerry Dale Presnell, 36, was beaten and killed on Nov. 14, 2024, at Elmore Correctional Facility. 

Jamal Wilson, 38, was assaulted at Elmore Correctional Facility and died on Nov. 1, 2024. ADOC said at the time that he was found unresponsive on his bed and had a head injury and abrasions on both legs. 

Deandre Roney was one of four men at Donaldson Correctional Facility who died over a three-day period in June. Mr, Roney died June 9, 2024, at UAB Hospital after being stabbed in his back and in his head. Mr. Roney and his family had begged ADOC to keep him safe from a man who’d already stabbed him once, but he was not moved to safety.

Several of these families have appeared at the Legislative Joint Prison Oversight Committee to share their stories. Lawmakers on that committee have shown increasing concern for holding state officials more accountable for Alabama’s dangerous prisons. The committee meets next on January 22 at 10:30 am in room 807 in the Alabama Statehouse. 

Appleseed is working to investigate Alabama prison deaths. If you have information to share with us about the death of a loved one in the Alabama prison systems, please contact us at admin@alabamaappleseed.org.

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Incarcerated man hospitalized after “use of force” by ADOC sergeant at St. Clair prison

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By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher

St. Clair Correctional Facility (photo by Bernard Troncale)

Days before the close of 2024, a 53-year-old incarcerated man at St. Clair Correctional Facility was beaten by an officer, requiring hospitalization, according to sources, who tell Appleseed the man was handcuffed when beaten. 

That officer, whom those sources identify as Sergeant Jajuan Howard, has been placed on a “noncontact post pending the outcome of the investigation,” an Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) spokeswoman told Appleseed in a response Thursday. 

Stephen Shamburger’s injuries required hospitalization following the December 27th “Use of Force” incident, the spokeswoman’s response noted. Her reply didn’t name the officer or include details about what occurred.

Mr. Shamburger has been incarcerated for nearly 30 years. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole following a 1995 robbery conviction in Jefferson County. At the time, the sentence was mandatory under Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act based on the fact that he had three prior nonviolent felonies: two drug possession convictions and a conviction for breaking into a vehicle. Mr. Shamburger would be eligible for a much shorter sentence under laws in place today. 

Earnestine Shamburger, Mr. Shamburger’s mother, told Appleseed On Tuesday that she hadn’t received information from ADOC on her son’s condition, other than a brief phone call with an employee this week at St. Clair prison who mistakenly told her that her son was at UAB and was to be taken off a ventilator soon. 

“She didn’t tell me anything about what his condition was or how it happened.” Mrs. Shamburger said. “When we were talking she made the mistake of saying the name of UAB hospital, but when I questioned her about where he’s at she said she couldn’t tell me.” 

Mrs. Shamburger on Tuesday filled out an online form on ADOC’s website on Tuesday that family member can use to seek information about incarcerated loved ones, but as of Thursday morning she told Appleseed she has still not received a call regarding her son, and her attempts to reach someone at the prison Thursday morning were unsuccessful. 

“I’ve been calling all morning and I can’t get anybody,” Mrs. Shamburger said. “I’m about to worry myself to death thinking about what his situation is.” 

Mrs. Shamburger also expressed her desire to see the officer held to account. The ADOC spokeswoman told Appleseed that the department’s Law Enforcement Services Division is investigating the incident. 

Sgt. Howard is named in a July 2024 lawsuit filed in federal court that alleges he “punched Plaintiff in his left eye” and held the plaintiff in that suit while two other officers “struck Plaintiff in the face with a baton” and “continued to hit and/or kick him.” That alleged beating continued, and those officers allegedly “continuously stomped, kicked, and assaulted” the man. 

“Plaintiff was beat in and out of consciousness. He remembers hearing one of the Defendants state that he was “going to UAB today” and that he was “gonna die Today,” the lawsuit reads. 

 

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Appleseed is hiring an Executive Assistant!

Alabama Appleseed seeks an Executive Assistant to manage a wide range of administrative duties and provide development support. The Executive Assistant works closely with the Executive Director and reports directly to the Executive Director. This position requires excellent organizational skills, communications skills, and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced, nonprofit environment. An ideal candidate can manage spreadsheets, update a donor database, keep the office stocked with supplies, and troubleshoot with Spectrum when the internet is down. Mail merge, Mail Chimp, and basic graphic design skills are a plus, but not required.

Previous administrative, paralegal and/or office management experience is preferred. This is a full-time position based in Appleseed’s Birmingham office, although a 30 to 32-hour week role would be considered if the candidate possesses proven experience in a similar setting.

Our office can be calm one day, energetic the next. Comfort with the unexpected and an ability to adjust to new experiences are musts.  

 Responsibilities:

  • Assist leadership in responding to letters, emails, and requests from a wide range of stakeholders;
  • Provide support in coordinating meetings and public events;
  • Assist in managing Appleseed’s offices through maintaining office equipment, ordering supplies, communicating with vendors, and troubleshooting when related issues arise;
  • Organize and utilize excel development spreadsheets and Little Green Light donor database;
  • Manage mass mailings;  
  • Contribute to other organizational needs as might arise in a small nonprofit, particularly related to organization-wide projects such as the Celebrate Justice annual event, report distributions, and board meetings;
  • Assist in managing Executive Director’s schedule (occasionally);
  • Arrange some travel;
  • Assist with expense reports and filing of various documents;
  • Manage on-boarding of new employees.

Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated commitment to Alabama Appleseed’s mission, vision, and approach to advocacy;
  • Two or more years of experience as an administrative assistant or office manager preferred;
  • Highly proficient in Excel, Microsoft, Powerpoint, adobe and Google docs;
  • Excellent written communication skills;
  • Strong initiative and ability to manage and complete tasks with minimal supervision;
  • Commitment to working in an office setting full time;
  • Ability to get along and work collaboratively with diverse personalities;
  • Valid Alabama drivers license.

​Salary and Benefits: This position offers a competitive nonprofit salary range of $45,000 to $55,000, depending on experience, along with a benefits package including health insurance, generous paid leave, and 401(k) after one year; reimbursement of travel-related expenses.

To Apply: Send a cover letter, resume, and three references to Appleseed’s Executive Director, Carla Crowder, at carla.crowder@alabamaappleseed.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and accepted until the position is filled. Please write “Executive Assistant” in the subject line. 

The injustices that we are fighting in Alabama today are directly connected to long histories of inequality and oppression in this state. As we build our team to fight for a better Alabama, we know that people who have historically been overlooked need to lead. For this reason, we welcome and strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, people with criminal histories, people from working class backgrounds, and LGBTQ people.

Alabama Appleseed values an inclusive culture and diverse workforce. Alabama Appleseed encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status, and record of arrest or conviction. 

About Alabama Appleseed: ​Alabama Appleseed is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1999 whose mission is to achieve justice and equity for all Alabamians. Alabama Appleseed conducts integrated culture and policy change campaigns to confront laws and policies that harm the poor and to remedy the root causes of poverty and injustice. Its campaigns use policy analysis, research and documentation, legislative action, public education, community organizing, coalition building, direct legal representation and reentry services. Alabama Appleseed is a vibrant, growing organization that prides itself on creating strategic, evidence-based solutions to some of the most pressing problems in Alabama, and allowing the ingenuity of our staff to lead the way. We achieve our mission through a unique hybrid model: providing legal representation and reentry services to wrongly sentenced Alabaimans and conducting research and policy advocacy to reform the systems that created Alabama’s criminal justice crisis.

Alabama Appleseed is a member of the national Appleseed Network, which includes 18 Appleseed centers across the U.S. and in Mexico City.

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Ronnie Peoples is free! Sentenced to life without parole for offenses with no physical injury, Mr. Peoples was respected and beloved at St. Clair prison. But it took a cancer diagnosis for him to be released.

Ronnie Peoples on his release day from St. Clair Correctional Facility. Joining him are Researcher Eddie Burkhalter, Executive Director Carla Crowder, St. Clair trade school instructor Bradley Black, Mr. Peoples, Staff Attorney Scott Fuqua and trade school instructor Chad Spurlin.

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 track of the tools for the instructor, a critical job in a prison. “When you get outside, smell the air,” Mr. Black told Mr. Peoples. “It smells different.” 

Mr. Peoples with his attorney Scott Fuqua.

Mr. Peoples, 69, took a couple steps outside the prison’s door and standing in the misty December morning, took a deep breath. “I smell it. Smells different,” he said as Appleseed staff walked him outside to start his life anew. 

Mr. Peoples has served more than three decades of a life without the possibility of parole sentence under the state’s Habitual Felony Offender Act (HFOA). He is among the growing number of very sick and older incarcerated people in Alabama. He was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in April 2023. The disease has spread to a lung and to a rib, and with Appleseed attorney Scott Fuqua’s help, Mr. Peoples applied for and was granted a medical furlough. 

“Last night was probably the longest night of my whole life,” Mr. Peoples told Appleseed’s Executive Director, Carla Crowder, just outside the prison. He didn’t sleep much, and instead thought about those who were coming to get him the next morning, about seeing family for Christmas whom he hasn’t seen in decades, including a 10-year-old grandson he’s never met. He thought about family most of all. 

Mr. Peoples received his life without the possibility of parole sentence after a 1991 robbery of a beverage company conviction in Tuscaloosa County. No one was injured. His sentence was enhanced under the HFOA because of prior robbery convictions more than four decades ago in the 1970s, including in Ohio. Life without parole was the only available sentence at the time, but because of changes to Alabama sentencing laws, Mr. Peoples would have been eligible for a much shorter sentence if current laws applied to his case. Last year, Appleseed profiled his situation in a series of reports about the Cruel and Unusual conditions in Alabama’s prisons.

Mr. Peoples with his trade instructors Bradley Black and Chad Spurlin.

“The whole block started clapping,” Mr. Peoples said of walking through the prison before his release. 

His road to freedom was long. 

In 2005, Mr . Peoples asked the court to reconsider his sentence, and Mr. Black, in a letter to the judge 18 years ago wrote: “He is an excellent worker and a person whom I can count on and trust. .. I normally do not write letters for the inmates. When Ronnie asked me to write this letter for him, I felt it was the least I could do for someone who has helped me so much and has never asked for anything in return.”

While Mr. Peoples application was approved by ADOC Commissioner John Hamm, medical furloughs aren’t easy to get in Alabama. Of the 30 medical furlough applications received in 2023, ADOC approved 10, according to the department’s report. However, three applicants died during the review process. Approvals were similar in other recent years: 10 for medical furlough in 2021 and nine in 2022. 

Mr. Peoples poses for pics with Bradley Black.

Treatment for his cancer while incarcerated was lacking, Mr Peoples explained, and getting timely medical information on his condition was difficult. He’d often go many weeks without a checkup, and planned lab work would be missed. He had his last lab work done about a week before release, and said he’s hopeful he’ll receive better treatment in the free world. 

Appleseed’s reentry team is assisting with all of the wraparound services he will need, including assisting with access to Social Security and Medicare.

“There’s going to be a whole lot of tears shed,” Mr. Peoples said of when he’d see his sister and other family members later that day. “My sister. She can’t stop crying, every time I call her…I just want to enjoy the Christmas spirit with my family.” 

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Welcome Summer Intern Katia Apedoh

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“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 advocate!”

Katia Apedoh just graduated from Hoover High School, where she served as leadership for Student Diversity Council, captained Ethics Bowl, and received her International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. Katia was very active with diversity work within the Hoover City Schools District, even developing a diversity initiative for teachers for which she received the 2024 Alabama Princeton Prize in Race Relations. In the fall, Katia will attend Washington and Lee University where she plans to double major in English and Politics with a minor in Law, Justice, and Society. Katia hopes to attend law school.

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Birmingham Re-entry Alliance is hiring a Case Manager

The Birmingham Re-entry Alliance is an innovative, collaborative reentry support and case management system for individuals returning to Birmingham following incarceration in state prison. Our network will combine the necessary services for some of Alabama’s most marginalized people – indigent, formerly incarcerated people with felony records – to thrive following incarceration. The organizations involved have proven records of providing the necessary services, yet no organization currently does all that is needed for people returning from prison to escape poverty and homelessness, and avoid returning to prison. By combining strengths of existing social service agencies and adding case management, this project builds a scalable system of support and care to help fill a desperate need.

Overview
The case manager serves as a lighthouse to assess clients for the program and guide them to coordinating service providers in the Birmingham Re-entry Alliance. In this role, the case manager will support individuals who are transitioning from incarceration back into the Birmingham area. The case manager is responsible for client assessment, referral to appropriate service providers, career planning, and goal setting. The case manager is to expect to work with a group of approximately 5 to 15 clients at any given time. Importantly, the case manager will have access to a supportive alliance of nine direct service providers (community partners) who have joined together to provide various services to formerly incarcerated clients. 

Primary responsibilities

  • Work closely with community partners to provide a seamless network of support services to clients newly released from state prisons into Birmingham;
  • Collaborate with other team members to address the immediate needs of clients, specifically, acquisition of government identification and benefits, medical care, transportation, education/job-training, employment, peer support, and housing;
  • Respond to urgent client needs and questions by providing leadership, direct services, and coordination with needed community services;
  • Create client files including medical history, education, incarceration history, and identifications;
  • Maintain accurate client files and records according to program guidelines;
  • Develop plans to increase clients’ long-term well-being, productivity, and stability
  • Maintain data on client progress based on established metrics.

Assessments

  • Conduct individual assessments; Determine eligibility based on requirements in accordance with established criteria;
  • Assess clients’ needs, personal strengths and support networks to help determine their goals;
  • Assess the clients’ training readiness and make documentation of any concerns or potential barriers;
  • Provide information and referrals to community resources to help clients address identified barriers that may hinder client well-being, stability, and employment;
  • Collect and analyze data related to positive improvements, outcomes, and accountability requirements.

Salary and benefits

This position will provide a salary range of $45,000 – $50,000 annually, depending on experience. Office space and supplies will be provided. Additionally, the position offers a benefits package including health insurance, mileage compensation, and generous paid time off. This is a grant-funded position to support a pilot program with the possibility of becoming a long-term position.

To apply, please email a letter of interest, resume, and three references to Ingrid Patrick at Alabama Appleseed at ingrid.patrick@alabamaappleseed.org

The Birmingham Re-entry Alliance will comprise existing nonprofit agencies, faith groups, and government entities that already provide assistance with identification, job training and placement, substance use treatment, peer support, life skills, housing, healthcare, and case management. The following organizations have committed to serve the Alliance:

  • Community on the Rise
  • Salvation Army, Birmingham Command
  • Jimmie Hale Mission
  • Aletheia House
  • Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice
  • Hope Inspired Ministries (HIM)
  • Alabama Regional Medical Services (ARMS)
  • Offender Alumni Association (OAA)
  • City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office
  • Office of Homelessness Prevention
  • Canterbury United Methodist Church
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Welcome to JD/MD Intern Alana C. Nichols

My name is Alana C. Nichols and it is with immense excitement and gratitude that I announce an internship with Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.  I am currently a third year Internal Medicine and Pediatrics resident at University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Additionally, I hold a juris doctorate from Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, GA.

I only recent learned of Alabama Appleseed but after researching them, I’m not sure how I have gone this many years having never interacted.  I was immediately drawn to Appleseed’s mission of confronting unjust systems.  As a criminal defense and family law attorney, I spent years navigating these very systems.  It was during this time that I became drawn to the underlying psychosocial and physical health barriers that plagued many of my clients.  

Despite switching careers, I oftentimes found myself at the crossroads of healthcare and the legal system.  As a resident physician for both adults and children, I have seen the impact that one’s environment has on their mental and physical wellbeing.   I have a special interest in caring for vulnerable populations.  And what population is more vulnerable than those currently or previously incarcerated?  

As an advocate, I’ve always wondered how I can effectuate change on a larger scale.  As a resident, I strive to truly meet patients where they are, wherever they are.  As both an attorney and physician, I want some portion of my career to focus on improving healthcare for incarcerated individuals.  Oftentimes, when any patient presents to a hospital, they are in their most vulnerable state and as physicians we are entrusted to care for them.  An incarcerated individual presenting to a healthcare system adds additional complexity that can create barriers to care.  During my time with Alabama Appleseed, I hope to gauge a better understanding of healthcare workers’ understanding when it comes to interacting with incarcerated individuals while also building a policy that helps facilitate optimal care when these individuals present for care.

It is my hope that this is only the beginning of my time with Alabama Appleseed and that together, we are able to play a small part in effectuating change that improves how our healthcare system interacts with incarcerated individuals.

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Fighting for parole for a son who is fighting for his life

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As their son recovered from multiple stab wounds and fractures suffered at Bullock Correctional Facility, Brian Rigsby’s parents had their hopes up that he just might find safety through parole. Here’s what happened instead. 

By Eddie Burkhalter, Appleseed Researcher

Brian Rigsby with his family (l to r) mom Pamela Moser, sister Elizabeth Neely, and dad Mitchell Rigsby (photo courtesy of Pamela Moser)

Pamela Moser sat in front of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in late August and waited for her son’s case to come up for consideration. Release was Brian Rigsby’s best chance at escaping the violence that earlier in the month left him with multiple stab wounds and lacerations that weren’t properly treated, his mother, who is a nurse, told Appleseed. 

But before Mr. Rigsby’s name was called, Ms. Moser, 67, and her son’s father, Mitchell Rigsby, 68, who came for the hearing, were told that a mistake had occurred and her son would not have a parole hearing that day. It will likely be five years before their son gets a chance for an early release. 

For Brian Rigsby, that means five more years in treacherous prisons with easy access to the kinds of drugs that got him there to begin with, but little access to rehabilitation or mental health care that might help him earn parole. Or at least avoid more brutality. It’s a seemingly endless cycle of hopelessness experienced by thousands whose convictions stem from substance use, mental illness or a combination. 

Mr. Rigsby, 46, had been turned down at a hearing on July 13, when the only two board members on what is supposed to be a three-member board voted against releasing him under parole supervision. Those two members disagreed on when to reset his next hearing, with one voting to set it off for three years and the other for five years. In the days following that hearing, however, Mr. Rigsby told his mother he’d received a letter from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles telling him they’d set him for another hearing on Aug. 31. Everyone got their hopes up. 

Brian Rigsby (photo courtesy of Pamela Moser)

“He was so excited about that letter, because it said they were going to reconsider,” Ms. Moser said. She worried that once she had to tell him the hearing never took place his mental health could decline further. She described the incident as “infuriating.” 

A Bureau attorney explained to Appleseed that when just two board members vote to deny parole, the next question before them is how long into the future to set the next hearing. If both members can’t decide, according to the Bureau’s rules, the date is automatically set at the maximum, which is five years. Since Mr. Rigsby’s parole hearing in July, a third board member was appointed, but through July the Board was on track this year to release the smallest percentage of eligible prisoners on parole in over a decade, according to Alabama Daily News, “granting parole to just 7.5% of the 2,332 prisoners eligible for release as of Thursday.” 

There is good reason for Ms. Moser to want her son out of Alabama prisons. After that July parole denial, Mr. Rigsby was attacked at Bullock Correctional Facility by two men in a dispute over drugs, Ms. Moser said her son told her. He was beaten in the head with a broom handle and stabbed several times before a correctional officer intervened, she said. Mr. Rigsby has served nearly two decades in Alabama prisons with mental illnesses diagnosed not long before the crime for which he was convicted. 

At a prison visit in August, his mother said she saw five wounds of between a quarter of an inch to a half inch long on his head, and while some had sutures she said “one was gaped open,” as were stab wounds on his calves. Just as concerning was his apparent mental state. During the visit her son dumped his food from his plate and ate it from the table “like a caged animal,” Ms. Moser said. 

The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) in a response to Appleseed’s questions about the attack said that Mr. Rigsby was taken to a local hospital on Aug. 23 after an apparent assault and that “a suspect has not been identified by Rigsby.” He was returned to Bullock prison on Aug. 26, the mother said. The warden told her that in addition to the stab wounds her son had fractured ribs and a facial fracture. Mr. Rigsby told his mother in a Sept 7 phone call from prison that the doctor who treated him said he also had two small skull fractures. 

Brian with his sister Elizabeth (photo courtesy of Pamela Moser)

Her son declined to tell prison staff who attacked him over fear that doing so could place him in greater jeopardy, Ms. Moser said. “He’s afraid that if he reports them, even though they say they’ll protect him, you don’t know that that’s going to happen,” she said. She talked to her son after his return to Bullock prison and said he seemed very distraught and just kept saying “I love you.”

Speaking to the prison’s warden on Sept. 4, Ms. Moser said she was told that her son would be moved to another prison because “they can’t figure out who did this to him.” The next day Mr. Rigsby was moved to Elmore Correctional Facility, according to ADOC records. 

Mr. Rigsby is serving a life with parole sentence after pleading guilty in 2007 to first degree robbery in which no one was physically harmed, court records show. In 2003 at the age of 27 Mr. Rigsby robbed a pharmacy in Walker County, according to court records, and stole $315 and more than 1,000 combined oxycontin, methadone and oxycodone pills. Mr. Rigsby had four prior felony convictions – three burglary convictions and one conviction of possession of a forged instrument. 

Drugs have consumed much of their son’s adult life, his parents explained, and now Mr. Rigsby finds himself in Alabama prisons, where instead of effective drug treatment that might prevent his return to prison, he’s surrounded by drugs at every turn, drugs that are most often brought in by correctional officers and prison staff. Those drugs are also driving much of the violence and death. 

The federal government in December 2020, sued the state and the Department of Corrections alleging that the state “fails to provide adequate protection from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, fails to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and subjects prisoners to excessive force at the hands of prison staff.” 

In a May 2021 amended complaint in the ongoing litigation, the DOJ makes clear that ADOC has fallen short in addressing the primary contributor to the unconstitutional violence: contraband. (“ADOC told us that ADOC staff are bringing illegal contraband into Alabama’s prisons,” a 2019 report by the DOJ noted.) 

The DOJ notes in the complaint that drugs and “the inability to pay drug debts leads to beatings, kidnappings, stabbings, sexual abuse, and homicides.”  

While there have been several recent arrests of ADOC correctional officers charged in connection with contraband, drugs still remain plentiful in prisons, incarcerated people tell Appleseed.

Brian with his sister Elizabeth when he was paroled in 2017 (photo courtesy of Pamela Moser)

Mr. Rigsby was released on parole in 2017, and was sent back to prison to serve that life with the possibility of parole sentence the following year, not because of a new criminal charge but because of a technical parole violation. 

Just prior to the pharmacy robbery Mr. Rigsby was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, psychotic disorder, opiate/polysubstance dependence and suicidal ideation and attempts, his attorney wrote in a court filing prior to his conviction. The attorney wrote that he was hospitalized at the South Lake Center for Mental Health in Merrillville, Indiana for a suicide attempt “where he stabbed himself in the neck with a paring knife.” 

Ms. Moser said the doctor in Indiana told her the psychotic break could have been from coming off Methadone too quickly, and that a diagnosis of bipolar disorder can’t be discerned from one incident, but that the suicide attempt was “very intentional” and required exploratory surgery on his neck. 

Alabama’s failure to properly treat and keep safe from harm those incarcerated people with mental illnesses is the centerpiece of a long-running lawsuit that seeks to force ADOC to make corrections. 

The federal judge in the 2014 Braggs v. Dunn lawsuit said in 2017 that Alabama’s treatment of mentally ill prisoners was “horrendously inadequate” and that prisons were woefully understaffed, which exacerbated the mistreatment. 

“Prisoners do not receive adequate treatment and out-of-cell time because of insufficient security staff,” Judge Myron H. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama said in a 2021 order. “They are robbed of opportunities for confidential counseling sessions because there are too few staff to escort them to treatment, forcing providers to hold sessions cell-side. They decompensate, unmonitored, in restrictive housing units, and they are left to fend for themselves in the culture of violence, easy access to drugs, and extortion that has taken root in [DOC] facilities in the absence of an adequate security presence. The resulting sky-high rates of suicidality divert scarce mental-health resources from treatment provision to crisis management, exacerbating the deficiencies in care.”

Suicides, and suicide attempts,  among those with mental illnesses is all too common  in Alabama’s prisons, Thompson has noted in his orders.  In “light of the significant number of wholly unanticipated suicides in ADOC segregation units, by individuals who were not on the mental-health caseload, defendants’ contention that ‘the system works’ is astonishing,” Thompson wrote in a 2019 opinion. 

Brian with his mom Pamela when he was paroled in 2017 (photo courtesy of Pamela Moser)

As for Mr. Rigsby, he has not received any treatment for mental illness while in custody of the state, his mother said. 

“The robbery happened soon after he came back to Alabama, and I have often thought Brian didn’t plan on coming out of that drugstore alive. Once he got in the system, there was no follow up, as far as I know, about evaluating his possible/probable bipolar diagnosis,” Ms. Moser said. 

Last year, Alabama prisons saw a record 270 deaths, which was nearly 200 percent higher than a decade ago. Between January and June, the last period in which ADOC has released numbers, there have been 164 deaths in state prisons. If that pace keeps up, 2023 will be another record year of prison deaths in Alabama. 

Ms. Moser worries that even if her son survives and is some day released, he may come out a different person. 

“The longer they stay in there, the less chance that they’re going to be able to function in society,” she said.

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Why this report?

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 for thoughtfully elevating issues at the intersection of poverty, racism, and mass incarceration in Alabama. That intersection is fertile ground, and no single group could tackle every issue that it includes. For the last five years, we have mostly focused on issues impacting people who are accused or convicted of crimes: fines and fees, drug policy, Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender Act, and the state’s brutal prisons.

Like mass incarceration and the criminalization of poverty, violent victimization also lives at the intersection of poverty, racism, and mass incarceration in Alabama. As we developed deeper relationships, we heard more and more about times the people we were talking with had experienced violent victimization within their communities. We heard from people who were frustrated at being pulled over repeatedly for things like busted headlights, but who also wondered why police couldn’t prevent the seemingly endless cycle of shootings and retaliatory violence in their neighborhoods. We heard from people who were relieved when the people who harmed them or killed their loved ones were arrested or convicted, but who also felt appalled at the lengthy sentences, including capital punishment, that had been imposed. 

There is no conflict in caring about the people who are harmed by mass incarceration in Alabama and also caring about the people who are harmed by crime in Alabama. As we have learned in our years documenting the experiences of marginalized communities in Alabama as they interact with the justice system, they are very often the same people. 

Afterward is an attempt to chronicle that reality, to demonstrate that our lives and communities are more complicated than the reductive narratives so often handed to us, and to delve into the ways we are all shaped by the hard parts. 

Why us?

The Appleseed staffers and consultants who contributed to this report include people impacted by many of the harms we document here. Among us are formerly incarcerated people; people who have experienced violent victimization, sexual violence, and the loss of loved ones to homicide and incarceration; people who live with serious mental health challenges; and people who live or have lived in communities with high levels of violence. 

Some of us live and always have lived very privileged lives; others, not so much. We are all Alabamians by birth or by choice. And we all want to see this complicated place we call home thrive.  

We are grateful to all the people who shared their personal stories with us as we traveled the state to develop this report.

What next?

Afterward is not a report about crime and punishment, but about what happens after people have experiences that are unmanageable. How they carry on in the wake of trauma and loss. What they do with themselves and to themselves—and with and to their communities—in the aftermath.

We hope Afterward goes toward creating space for everyone we spoke to across Alabama who needs it and forms the basis of a nuanced conversation about how we can build a more inclusive response to what happens after violence occurs. 

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