Appleseed’s 2025 Annual Report – A Time for Freedom

By Carla Crowder, Executive Director

Dear friends and supporters, Five years ago, Appleseed waded into the despair within Alabama’s prison system with a determination to confront unnecessary incarceration one life at a time. Today, we celebrate freedom for 30 people once condemned to life sentences. Not 30 cases. Not 30 wins. These are 30 people, fellow Alabamians who now walk alongside us in our fight for justice.

Many grace the cover of our 2025 Annual Report. People like Larry Garrett, who served 36 years in prison for burglaries, then took up truck driving two years ago. He now drives tractor-trailers across the United States at age 72. People like John Meadows, 54, who devoted his incarceration to education and now works as a plumber. And people like our team member Ronald McKeithen, who spent 37 years behind bars and now inspires others by sharing his story across the country. This year, Ron was appointed to the Statewide Reentry Commission and he got married!

Alabama’s broken and brutal prison system was exposed in new ways across the United States this year with the release of the HBO documentary, “The Alabama Solution.” The suffering displayed in this challenging but important film reminds us why Appleseed remains focused on pragmatic, bipartisan solutions to the state’s overreliance on prisons and punishment.

The only way to solve this crisis is to care about our fellow human beings who are incarcerated, to believe in redemption, and to support formerly incarcerated Alabamians as they navigate the worries and the wonders of life on the outside after decades in the darkness of an Alabama prison. We could not be more grateful for the judges, district attorneys, family members, and reentry partners who have made our legal work possible for the last five years. We are indebted to dozens of funders who have invested in this monumental effort. But there is so much more to do. That’s why Appleseed has taken on a new project, supporting criminalized survivors, women whose convictions were driven by domestic violence. We’re also stepping up our parole advocacy, representing people with life sentences as they become eligible for parole. This year we took eight parole cases and won release for each person we represented.

And we helped two clients earn pardons. While 30 is a nice, round number worth celebrating, there’s another number that tells us so much more about how needless these extreme prison sentences are: zero. That’s how many Appleseed clients have returned to prison. Thank you all for playing a role in their success.

Here’s to more freedom in 2026!

Read the full Annual Report here.