The State of Alabama has, for decades, demonstrated an inability to fund and operate safe, humane prisons in compliance with the U.S. Constitution. In April, for the first time in the 39-year history of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (“CRIPA”), the U.S. Department of Justice found an entire state prison system for men operating in violation of the U.S. Constitution here in Alabama.
The nationally publicized DOJ report found “[t]he combination of ADOC’s overcrowding and understaffing results in prisons that are inadequately supervised, with inappropriate and unsafe housing designations, creating an environment rife with violence, extortion, drugs, and weapons.” Just this year, nine people have been murdered in our prisons.
Alabama Appleseed produced a summary of the report available here. Appleseed is committed to making sure the federal findings are not quickly forgotten. And we are committed to remembering the lives lost and the families harmed by our shameful, unconstitutional prisons as fellow Alabamians who deserved better.
