Remembering three Appleseed clients who died waiting for a chance at freedom

By Scott Fuqua, Appleseed Legal Director

A vigil was held on February 18th at the State Capitol to remember the people who have died in our prisons this decade. Most made mistakes that led to their incarceration. Most were suffering from addiction and were sentenced to a prison where hopelessness is endemic and drugs are more readily available than they are on the street. None deserved to be sent to a place where the death rate is nearly double that of the next highest prison system in our country with a suicide rate five times higher than it is for Alabamians as a whole.

Three of our clients have died waiting for their second chance at freedom. Their names were Tommy Tunstall, Dock Boyd and Wesley Warren. In total, they had served over 100 years for crimes where they didn’t cause physical harm to another person. No one in Alabama was safer because we incarcerated them for decades beyond when it was clear they had learned from their mistakes with their advanced age and poor health rendering them only a costly burden on the state’s taxpayers. 

Appleseed Legal Director Scott Fuqua and advocates from across the state attended a vigil honoring those who died in state prison custody. Scott represented three of the men who died. Photo by Bernard Troncale

In 2019, the US Department of Justice investigated the state of our prisons and filed a lawsuit declaring, “Prisoners at Alabama’s Prisons for Men have continued daily to endure a substantial risk of serious harm, including death…the unconstitutional conditions are pervasive and systemic.” In the seven years since the first report detailing the deadly conditions was released, the crisis has continued to deepen. All of the over 1500 people whose pictures were laid out in front of the Capitol steps last week have died since the results of that investigation were first made public.

Despite this crisis, the majority of the 21,000 people in our prisons will survive their ordeal. Many will leave prison suffering from more acute drug addiction than they had prior to their arrest and dealing with varying degrees of post traumatic stress from the conditions they endured. 

However, with more than 6,500 people serving sentences of life, life without parole, or virtual life in Alabama’s prisons, the burden of people growing old, aging about of criminality, yet requiring expensive health care and ultimately dying behind bars will only continue to grow in the coming years. The taxpayers of Alabama are getting a poor return on their investment for public safety.

There is no reason Alabama should be uniquely incapable of administering criminal justice in a manner that protects the constitutional rights of the people living in our prisons. There are many good people working within our prison system, but like the people they are tasked with guarding, they are stuck in a broken system desperately in need of systemic reform. Every prison system has flaws, but we should not settle for being the worst by many metrics at something of such great importance. 

The good news is that many things can be done to address this crisis. If you haven’t seen it, watch the Alabama Solution documentary which has been nominated for the Oscar for best documentary. Ask others if they are aware of this crisis. Call or write to your representatives in the Alabama legislature to let them know this situation isn’t acceptable and urge them to use their power as your elected representative to fight to solve this crisis by passing SB316, which will create a system of oversight which will shed light on the various aspects of this crisis.