Latest news with #ACLUofAlabama
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Report: At least 277 people died in Alabama prisons in 2024
A pair of handcuffs poking through prison bars. A report from the ACLU of Alabama released Wednesday estimated that at least 277 people died in Alabama prisons in 2024, but said the number could be higher. (File/Getty) A report published Wednesday by the ACLU of Alabama estimated at least 277 people died in Alabama prisons last year. That number matches the figure provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections and is lower than the 325 deaths tabulated by Alabama Appleseed in 2023, but the number of deaths has yet to meaningfully decline in the past few years despite efforts by the ADOC to secure the population and prevent corrections officers from transporting contraband into the facilities. 'It is high,' said Eddie Burkhalter, a researcher for Alabama Appleseed, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A message was sent to the Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday seeking comment. The ACLU said in the report that the number is likely higher because the ADOC has failed to maintain accurate records. 'While the raw number was larger (325) in fiscal year 2023, we are not seeing dramatic improvements by any means in Alabama's prisons,' said Alison Mollman in an interview Wednesday, interim legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. The report said the largest number of deaths (46) were the result of accidental deaths or overdoses. The report cites corrections officers as a contributing factor for the number of deaths, particularly the deaths of overdose. 'In 2019, ADOC's own staff members reported to the DOJ that 'without a doubt' the number one way contraband is getting into prisons is by staff smuggling it in,' the report states, adding that the problem remains despite 'continued notice of the central role staff play in trafficking drugs into ADOC facilities.' The overdose number will likely be revised upward because 105 people died in prison whose cause is unknown, or the cases are still under investigation. 'It is really overdoses that are driving these death numbers,' said Burkhalter, who researches prison deaths. 'Drugs continue to come in the prisons, largely in part because of officers who bring them in and staff who bring them in.' Another 77 people died because of natural causes, though the specific causes are not known. The report estimated that there were at least 36 deaths in Kilby Correctional Facility In Montgomery; 35 deaths at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Saint Clair County; 34 deaths at Limestone Correctional Facility in Limestone County and 26 deaths at Bullock Correctional Facility in Union Springs. The four combined accounted for nearly half of all the deaths (47%) that occurred in 2024. ACLU also cited racial disparities in the report. While 26% of the population in Alabama is Black, Black Alabamians comprise almost 60% of the state's prison population and account for an equal number of the deaths that happened in 2024. 'Alabama's prisons are sites of torture,' said Allison Mollman, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. 'When people are convicted and sentenced to prison, their punishment is to be taken away from their families and communities. But the punishment they experience from the state of Alabama is widespread drug use, constant violence, both at the hands of other prisoners and staff, and widespread misconduct.' People incarcerated in Alabama's prisons continue to face deadly and dangerous conditions more than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit and publicized scathing findings about the conditions in some of the facilities. A team of researchers from both the state and national ACLU offices compiled data from publicly available sources, including news articles and obituaries, as well as state and federal court records and reports by nonprofits and academic papers. They also obtained information by filing records requests with government agencies and taking numbers posted on the Corrections Department's website. The report recommends improved tracking of deaths and study of the factors leading to them. 'To understand and respond to the problem, we have to understand the breadth of the problem, so it is our position that the first step, and an easy step for DOC to take, is to increase the transparency, the frequency, at which it is giving the public information,' Mollman said. Other recommendations include updating the categories that indicate the manner of death, require autopsies for every person who dies while in the Department's custody and provide an annual report on the deaths that happened for the year. Mollman also said the ADOC needs to change the culture within the department by changing the leadership at the warden level. Current practice is that wardens obtain their post by working up the ranks of the department, starting as corrections officers. Other states have hired people as wardens who come from different backgrounds, such as social workers. 'Punishment is where the Department of Corrections is focused on, keeping people in segregation, locking them down in their cells, keeping them in dorms without air conditioning and without supervision,' Mollman said. 'If we can move from a system to focus on rehabilitation truly, that has the programming, has the incentives for incarcerated people to do well, if we have a parole system that responds to that by granting people parole who are doing well in prison, those are the types of things that change culture and improve conditions and reduce levels of violence.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bills requiring Ten Commandments displays in Alabama schools moving forward with lawmakers
DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) — Two controversial companion bills requiring public schools around the state to display the ten commandments are making their way through the Alabama legislation. These bills would require each board of education to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in a common area of each school, like a library, in its jurisdiction. The Ten Commandments would have to be displayed in a 11 by 14 poster in 'large, easily readable font.' SB166 and HB178 moved out of the Senate and House committees, and are waiting to be put on the calendar for floor debates. The approved texts could also be displayed with the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. According to the bills, Alabama boards of education would not have to pay for the display themselves, and instead accept donated funds or donated displays. They also dictates that the Alabama Commission on Higher Education should adopt rules to implement the bill. If the bills are signed into law, school systems must comply by January 1, 2026. A nearly identical bill was signed into law in Louisiana in 2024. However, this bill required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in each classroom around the state. New alert system could save lives of Alabama abuse victims Similar to Louisiana's law, SB166 has drawn criticism. The ACLU of Alabama says the bill is 'unconstitutional – plain and simple.' 'The First Amendment guarantees that students and their families —not politicians or the government—get to decide which religious beliefs, if any, they adopt and what role those beliefs will play in their lives. Displaying the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms blatantly violates this promise. Students can't focus on learning if they don't feel safe and welcome in their schools,' the ACLU of Alabama wrote on its website. The organization took the same stance on Louisiana's law, stating it violated the separation of church and state. In November, a federal judge blocked the pelican state's law, stating it was 'overtly religious.' WDHN's Montgomery Bureau Reporter, Ryan Hall, contributed to this article. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Social justice groups set their agenda for 2025 Alabama legislative session
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa (bottom center) stands at a podium as the Alabama House of Representatives votes to approve one of his bills on April 25, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. He has refiled bills that failed in previous sessions to reform the criminal legal system. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) Social justice advocates plan to prioritize voting rights and reforms to the state's criminal legal system in the 2025 legislative session. The ACLU of Alabama released its list of legislative priorities at the end of January, which included protecting free speech and reproductive health, as well as protecting voting rights and the First Amendment. Along with the list of priorities, the advocacy group has also identified a list of bills it will support and oppose. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'In the bills that we specifically identified, it was really important to us that we focus on freedom and choice, and expansion of both of those things,' said A'Niya Robinson, policy and organizing director for ACLU of Alabama. The regular session of the Legislature began on Tuesday. Alabama legislative leaders said they planned to emphasize bills targeting crime and immigration. Other social justice advocates are looking to steer legislators toward reform instead of the status quo, particularly on voting rights and access. Voting rights has been at the forefront of priority issues since President Donald Trump falsely alleged that the 2020 election had been manipulated that engineered his loss to the eventual winner, President Joe Biden. In the years following the election, the Alabama Legislature passed bills banning drop boxes for ballots; barring local governments from accepting private money to administer elections and criminalizing certain forms of absentee ballot assistance. Following a lawsuit from civil rights groups, a federal judge blocked a portion of the law that limited a third party's ability to provide ballot assistance, ruling that it violated portions of the Voting Rights Act. 'There is a lot happening within this state that feels very alarming,' Robinson said. 'For example, if we take voting rights, there have been numerous bills from sessions past, with each bill there seems to be more and more encroachment, and more and more suppression of people's right to just cast a ballot.' The Southern Poverty Law Center also plans to advocate for voting rights bills during the session. 'Alabama voters face a range of obstacles that make voting in-person on Election Day a significant challenge — from onerous voter ID requirements and polling precinct changes to the closure of nearly half of the DMV offices in majority-Black counties that issue the required documentation,' the SPLC stated in its list of priorities. Democratic legislators have filed bills addressing the issue. Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville filed legislation in the offseason to allow early voting in the state. HB 97, filed by Rep. Kenyatte Hassell, D-Montgomery, would allow people the opportunity to fix any issues that election managers find with their absentee ballot affidavit. Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery and Rep. Adline Clarke, D-Mobile, jointly filed a comprehensive voting rights bill in their respective chambers. The Senate version, SB 7, automatically restores voting rights for some of those who lost their right to vote in the state. The bill also eliminates the need to provide an excuse to vote by absentee, permit same day voter registration and require the Alabama Secretary of State's Office to have a statewide voter database. It would also create a Voting Rights Commission in the state that has the power to block measures from local governments that could limit voter access to the ballot box. Clarke not only filed the companion bill, but also a host of others aimed at expanding people's right to vote in the state. The bill, HB 77, would 'allow disabled individuals to designate someone to assist them with the absentee voting process, including mailing or hand-delivering their applications and ballots,' she said in a statement she emailed in January. The ACLU of Alabama will also support bills to reform the criminal legal system. 'When you think about criminal legal reform, you also have to think about the conditions that incarcerated people are living under,' Robinson said. 'You think about all the deaths that are occurring and all the violence.' Civil rights groups also want to see changes to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. Alabama Arise, for the first time, included reforming the parole system to its legislative priorities. Thus far, Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, had been one of the few legislators who spearheaded efforts to reform the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, frustrated at the low rate that members have granted parole. As recently as 2017, the parole rate has declined to single digits, and although the grant rate has increased to slightly more than 20% in recent months according to data from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, England believes that reforms are still needed. HB 40 would create a Criminal Justice Policy Development Council that would establish and implement a validated risk assessment for people who are incarcerated. This assessment would be used for parole guidelines and to create a classification system for people in prison that gauges their risk for criminal behavior. It would require the parole board to make public its guidelines that it uses when deciding parole, and it mandates that they state a reason if they make a decision that deviates from the parole guidelines. The bill also allows parole applicants to appeal decisions by the parole board should they be denied parole. A message was left with England Tuesday seeking comment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As ACLU of Alabama celebrates 60th anniversary, group fights to stop anti-DEI law from taking effect statewide
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — As the ACLU of Alabama celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, the group has announced a slate of projects they will take on this year, including fighting against a law that that unravels diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the state. Earlier this month, the organization announced that they had filed a federal lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 129, which prevents public universities across the state from dedicating funding to DEI programs. The law went into effect in October. 'What that means is that DEI offices have had to close at our public universities,' said Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. 'But, even more troubling, is that we've seen restrictions on what student groups have access to funding for.' Alabama State Superintendent releases statement regarding ICE and federal funding As an example, Mollman said groups like Alabama NAACP chapters wouldn't have the same access to funding for events like Black History Month, while white groups were not held to the same standard. On Jan. 30, the group, alongside the Legal Defense Fund, filed a preliminary injunction requesting that the court pauses the implementation of SB129. 'In their motion, the plaintiffs argue that the law, Alabama Senate Bill 129 (SB129), has imposed severe viewpoint restrictions on professors and students in public Alabama universities, including classroom discussions and university programs, since it took effect in October 2024,' the ACLU of Alabama wrote in a press release. 'The plaintiffs further argue that it is difficult—if not impossible—to ascertain what exactly is or is not prohibited by SB129 due its vague and confusing language, which further chills their speech.' Mollman said the lawsuit's ultimate aims is to have a federal court declare SB129 as unconstitutional. 'What that would mean is that our plaintiffs and students across the state who have student groups that are based on identity or are based on certain viewpoints wouldn't have that restricted as they are now under SB 129,' she said. 'And it would allow our professors across the state to return to teaching the curriculum and history that's been appropriate for years.' Applications for senior housing development in Birmingham open Feb. 13 The organization, which was founded in 1965, recently announced its 2025 Legislative Agenda, including: Fighting for criminal legal reform Defending the right to vote Ensuring reproductive justice Protecting First Amendment rights The ACLU of Alabama will be hosting a community teach-in on Feb. 15 in Montgomery. Mollman said the free event would be aimed toward educating the public on how the Legislature function, what bills they could expect to be introduced in the next session and how the ACLU will work to fight against certain bills. 'It's one of our priorities to make sure that the public is aware and educated about what's happening,' she said. 'We'll have other community events throughout the spring where folks can choose to tap in on the work that we're doing and learn how they can fight back against laws that harm them and to support laws that are going to make our lives better.' More information on the work being done by the ACLU of Alabama can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
