Alabama Prisons: More Crowded And Violent One Year After Department Of Justice Report

New data on Alabama prisons from April of 2020 provides a snapshot of deteriorating conditions one year following the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) findings that said conditions inside Alabama men’s prisons violate the Constitution. 

BY BETH SHELBURNE, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, CAMPAIGN FOR SMART JUSTICE

Even as custody admissions into ADOC decreased by over 1,500 from April 2019-April 2020, the overall prison population continues to grow, increasing significantly at several maximum and medium security facilities, which have long been considered horrifically overcrowded and violent. 

The DOJ stated explicitly in its April 2, 2019 findings that constitutional violations of failing to protect prisoners from violence and sexual abuse and failing to provide safe conditions “are exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision and overcrowding.” 

The overall occupancy rate across all Alabama prisons increased from 164.9% in April 2019 to 165.2% in April 2020. In its “minimum remedial measures,” the DOJ recommended that ADOC first address both overcrowding and understaffing immediately. It is unclear what steps ADOC has taken to address overcrowding since the DOJ issued its recommendations. 

The overcrowding at several maximum and medium security facilities worsened over the last year, likely due to ADOC’s decision to partially close Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore and transfer men assigned to Holman to other prisons.

One example was St. Clair Correctional Facility, which had an occupancy rate at a 5-year low of 88 percent in April 2019, but increased  to 114 percent in April 2020. That represents an increase of 250 men, the majority arriving after ADOC announced Holman’s closure in January, 2020. 

The extremely dangerous conditions inside St. Clair were the subject of a 2015 class action lawsuit, which included the reduction of overcrowding in a settlement agreement. Since 2015, the population of St. Clair has steadily decreased from a high of 132 percent as ADOC transferred men to other facilities, including Holman. 

Data also indicates that Alabama prisons have become less safe in the last year. The year-to-date number of homicides in the prisons increased from 8 deaths in April 2019 to 10 deaths in April 2020. The year-to-date number of reported fights spiked from 445 in April 2019 to 714 in April 2020. And the cumulative number of attempted suicides jumped from 17 in April 2019 to 29 in April 2020. In calendar year 2019, a record number of 29 homicides occurred inside Alabama prisons. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, releases from ADOC custody are down, mostly due to an unprecedented decline in parole grants and fewer parole hearings. Since new leadership appointed by Governor Kay Ivey assumed control of the parole bureau and board in September 2019, parole grants have plummeted to an historic low. Only 221 paroles have been granted from September 2019 through June 2020 compared to 1,262 granted in the same time period from the previous year. 

From September 2018 to June 2019, 1262 paroles were granted. However, from September 2019 to June 2020, only 221 paroles have been granted. That is more than a 80% decrease in parole grants.

Beth Shelburne is an investigative reporter for the Campaign for Smart Justice with the ACLU of Alabama. For investigative reporting on Alabama’s prison and pardons & paroles systems, follow her on Twitter at @bshelburne.

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