On Sunday, the brother of Christopher Hurst says he received a phone call from a Captain at Fountain Correctional Facility who said his brother had died from an apparent drug overdose.

The United States is in the midst of a prison suicide epidemic.

The term “violent offender” has nothing to do with the individual, the facts of the crime or how the person might have grown and changed in prison. It is a purely political term that is subject to change.

The value of life is not honored equally in the state of Alabama. If it was, there would be widespread moral outrage over the bloodbath going on behind the walls.

A trove of photographs depicting brutalized and murdered prisoners in Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility has thrust the treatment of our nation’s 2.3 million incarcerated people into public view.

Less than two hours before Domineque Ray was executed, the Supreme Court narrowly decided to allow the execution to proceed without his religious advisor in the chamber.

With the election less than a week away, it is critical that we pay close attention to the Jefferson County district attorney’s race.

From churches to corporations, we are witnessing leadership crises in almost every institution imaginable.

Alabamians are ready to see a broken criminal justice system fixed, and it’s time to let those sitting in the most powerful position know it — our District Attorneys (DAs).

America has spent the last 50 years becoming the world’s largest incarcerator.

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama launched its first ever non-partisan billboard campaign to draw attention to the special District Attorney race in Jefferson County.

“We know the war on drugs was a failure that impacted communities of color, particularly Black communities, for over a generation now.”

Over the past ten years, states across the country, including Alabama, have been working to rein in their excessive reliance on incarceration and to search for ways to respond to crime that are simultaneously less costly and more effective.

Our nation is in the midst of bleak times. We see crying children separated from parents at the border, the homeless population is growing, students feel unsafe at their schools, people unable to afford healthcare, and the list goes on.

During July 2018, more than one-third of the people booked into the Jefferson County Jail were arrested for a Failure to Appear (FTA) warrant or charge.

Prosecutors make choices that can mean the difference between a few years or a life in prison.

Have you ever watched an episode of “Law & Order”?