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Judge pauses deadline for federal workers to accept Trump's resignation offer; CA state lawmakers take action to enact safeguards against federal immigration enforcement; Study shows air quality disparities from industrial ag in NC.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi strikes a Trump tone at the Justice Department, federal workers get more time to consider buyouts, and an unclassified email request from the White House worries CIA vets.

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During Black History Month, a new book shares how a unique partnership built 5,000 schools for Black students, anti-hunger advocates say ag communities would benefit from an expanded SNAP program, and Americans have $90 billion in unpaid medical bills.

Advocates call on AL lawmakers for prison reform

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Friday, January 31, 2025   

With the new legislative session getting underway next week, advocates are calling attention to conditions inside Alabama's prisons.

The state's Department of Corrections reported 277 deaths among people in prisons in 2024, a decline from the 2023 record high of 325 but still more than four times the national average.

Elaine Burdeshaw, policy director for the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said in 2019 the federal Department of Justice found conditions at the men's prisons in the state were an unconstitutional violation of the Eighth Amendment.

"The primary reasons for that are the level of overcrowding, understaffing and violence," Burdeshaw outlined. "In 2020, the state was actually sued over these conditions. That litigation is still ongoing. The state hasn't gone to trial yet."

The state has paid private attorneys $20 million to defend the system. The Justice Department suit is scheduled to go to trial in 2026.

Over the last five decades in Alabama, the number of incarcerated people older than 50 increased more than 3,000%. The upcoming legislative session has advocates looking forward to a new hearing for the so-called Second Chance bill.

"Which would provide resentencing opportunities to individuals sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for crimes where no one was physically injured," Burdeshaw explained. "Most of these folks are over the age of 60 and based on the data we know they are the least likely to reoffend and the most expensive to incarcerate."

Overcrowded and understaffed prisons lead to more dangerous circumstances on the inside, with gangs often able to exercise greater control. Alabama's prison homicide rate in 2019 was 13 per 100,000, one of the highest in the nation. In contrast, the rate in Texas is two per 100,000 despite a prison population more than five times larger.

Burdeshaw pointed out the lack of adequate supervision means vulnerable inmates are often targeted for extortion.

"Families being contacted and the safety of their loved ones inside being threatened and them having to pay money to try to keep them safe and alive," Burdeshaw observed. "And it's not small amounts of money by any means, it's a lot of money."

Some states have instituted incentives, rehabilitation and exit strategies to reduce gang activity in prison.


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