Alabama's death valley

Donaldson prison's chaos continues under the nose of visiting Feds

Death is business as usual inside the William E. Donaldson prison, but the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) was trying to do better than that this week, and as usual, the agency failed. Representatives with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) visited the prison as part of the ongoing lawsuit filed in December 2020 over unconstitutional violence, dangerous conditions and corruption. ADOC is in such a state of perpetual chaos, they could not even pretend to have things under control while the feds were in town. Right under the DOJ’s nose, at least one man was murdered, others were injured in a separate assault, plus one man died from a suspected overdose.

In the same hour that an entourage of federal and state employees wearing suits toured the prison, a 32-year old man named Kenneth Earl Ray died from stab wounds on the floor of a locked dorm after running from an assailant as long as he could, according to sources inside the prison. Mr. Ray was serving a life sentence for robbery out of Mobile, which the court gave him when he was 18-years old. That’s what we do in Alabama. We throw teenagers into gladiator-style prisons for the rest of their lives. And many of them, like Mr. Ray, don’t survive. I’m told no one could go get help for Mr. Ray because the door to the dorm was locked from the outside with no officer in sight. He was literally locked in a room with his killer.

One man I talked to inside Donaldson this week was Corey Fox, who gave me permission to use his name in my reporting. Corey has served over 30 years inside ADOC, many of them at Donaldson. He said he’s never seen the prison so understaffed and out-of-control, and I could sense the alarm in his voice. He puts the blame squarely on ADOC.

“They’ve created this environment,” he said. “They’ve created the culture and the mindset in here. This environment is so volatile, small arguments can lead to big consequences.”

He said the men inside Donaldson know the conditions they contend with are worse than other prisons in the system and that reality exacerbates what was already growing hopelessness due to historically low parole rates and rampant drug use along with the violence that surrounds it. Corey said there’s an overall attitude from staff that the men inside Donaldson and their well-being don’t matter, like the practice of locking men inside dorms when there’s not enough staff to man posts.

“They call it the bottom,” he said of Donaldson. “We are the bottom rung. Nothing flourishes here. This is Alabama’s death valley. If I wanted to go get high, I can walk anywhere in this camp, any time of day or night and go shoot some dope. But if I want to go to church or class, it’s like pulling teeth. I've got to argue with the police & almost get sprayed to go to church or class."

In addition to the incident that killed Mr. Ray, another assault occurred inside the prison on November 14, but details have not yet emerged. Also this week on Thursday November 17, 33-year old Antoine Rudolph was found dead in Donaldson’s SEG unit. Sources say his death is likely drug-related. Whether DOJ’s visit will lead to consequences for these deaths or new measures to curtail the flow of deadly drugs into the prison remains to be seen. DOJ does not comment publicly on its investigation into Alabama prisons, which is now in its seventh year. I can only imagine this visit was eye opening for them. I hope it leads to change, but I fear it will only result in more of the same.

(Antoine Rudolph was found dead inside Donaldson prison November 17, 2022)

The hulking prison, hidden in a forest of thick pines on the outskirts of Jefferson County, is supposed to have the highest security inside ADOC, whatever that means, but according to this year’s death count, more men have overdosed or been killed inside Donaldson than any other prison in the state. Out of 78 deaths inside ADOC that I’ve tracked this year due to these possible causes, 21 have occurred inside Donaldson. That’s one in four preventable deaths inside ADOC.

Corey believes corrupt officers are exploiting the understaffing situation, continuing to traffic deadly substances throughout the prison and creating an environment that sounds like some kind of Dystopian version of hell.

There are men who leave assigned dorms or cells because they sell their beds in order to pay off drug debts, or are robbed of all their belongings because they can’t pay the dope-man. People sleep underneath stairs, or on benches outside the dorms, creating a homeless community inside the prison. One man sleeps behind the garbage because it’s warmer there. Officers had to start locking the gym because so many men, straggling through the prison in search of a safe space, began sneaking into the gym and sleeping on the floor.

Corey described seeing a man wearing no shoes, standing outside the officer’s “shift office” asking for help. Hours later, he was still there. Some men cannot live in their assigned dorms because they’re being threatened, sometimes with rape. One ragtag group wanders near the dorm Corey lives in almost daily, standing just outside the door because they have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.

“They’ll come inside because it’s cold outside, but they can’t come inside our actual dorm,” he explained. “So they literally just sit at the door all day long until lockdown.”

Robberies are common. In fact, the day Corey and I spoke on Tuesday November 15, a group of incarcerated men had just pulled a heist of store goods off a supply truck.

“There are old men walking around this camp with weapons,” he said. “Not because they’re going to do something, it’s for self-protection. If you catch the store, you’ve got to take a weapon with you just so you can make it back to your dorm.”

I have confirmed drug-related causes of death in 8 of the 10 suspected overdoses at Donaldson this year. 8 men have died inside Donaldson due to assaults or other violent incidents. In a prison with a population of 1,415 people, this many preventable deaths is staggering.

8 of the drug-related deaths happened in just a 12-week span between May and August. According to information I obtained from the Jefferson County Medical Examiner, Allen Dewitt overdosed on meth and fentanyl on May 25. Less than four weeks later, Matthew Mork died from complications of IV drug use. The next four men to suffer fatal overdoses died in a 10-day span: June 30 Maxamillion Ward overdosed on fentanyl, July 2 Kenneth James overdosed on fentanyl, July 9 Lionel Oneal overdosed on fentanyl and July 10 Jakari Norris died from several causes, including acute methamphetamine intoxication. Imagine if this overdose epidemic was occurring in a small town. It would likely be a major news story and state leaders like Gov. Kay Ivey could not get away with sitting by idly and pretending it wasn’t happening on her watch.

In addition to the deaths at Donaldson this week, two other men suffered untimely deaths inside ADOC. Kishon Green, 44, died at St. Clair Correctional on November 14. Sources said his death was a possible suicide or overdose. And Jacques Pyant, 39, died at Fountain Correctional Facility in the later part of the week. Sources said his death was a possible overdose. WAAY in Huntsville reported that the DOJ will next focus on Limestone Correctional Facility, after site visits to Donaldson and Bibb Correctional Facility.

Like every other incarcerated person I’ve spoken to in recent years, Corey scoffs at Governor Ivey’s plan to build mega-prisons to address the crisis. He believes reforms could happen inside existing buildings that wouldn’t cost billions of dollars, but state leaders just aren’t willing to pursue them. Educational opportunities, which Governor Ivey has falsely claimed can only be delivered with new prisons, could be increased now. Corey was not surprised by ADOC’s self-reported plummeting graduation rates. For example, only 11 people earned a GED in 2021, compared to 694 people in 2015.

“They’re not really promoting it,” Corey said about GED classes at Donaldson. “They don’t care if you get a GED or not. Nobody’s really signing up for it because they don’t have to. I think it should be mandatory, but what do I know?”

What will it take to remedy the problems inside Donaldson? Corey sighed in frustration when I asked him, but suggested drastic measures are needed, like bringing in the National Guard or other agencies to help with security because ADOC cannot be trusted to change a toxic climate of its own making. Corey said the men inside Donaldson are disheartened by flyby media coverage, treating people in prison like “flavor of the week” and not consistently covering the crisis and holding state leaders accountable.

He ended our conversation with a grave declaration, a statement I can’t stop thinking about, because it indicates a level of suffering so profound that instant death is better than the prolonged suffering of living inside Donaldson. That is a misery I do not know and do not want to support with my tax dollars in any way, shape or form.

“If you’re going to just warehouse me, go ahead and shoot me,” Corey said. “To me, that’s preferable to living in conditions like what we’re in right now. I would rather you blow my damn brains out and be done with it, rather than keep living like this.”