The Alabama Department of Death

What can we do about prison deaths?

I came back to my reporting Monday after three days of focus on creative writing and meditation, and sadly but predictably, the workday was filled with news of more deaths. A suicide by hanging at St. Clair Correctional Facility and a man dying at Donaldson Correctional Facility weeks after being beaten by his cell partner, taken to an outside hospital for treatment, but inexplicably returned to the prison, only to die in the infirmary a few days later. And I’ve just sent a request to ADOC after hearing about a young man who overdosed at Fountain Correctional Facility and was recently taken off life support and died. I don’t know yet that next of kin has been notified in these cases, but as soon as that’s cleared, I will publish their names.

These are the outcomes of a system in perpetual crisis with no end in sight, no leadership to fix it and not enough hearts to concern themselves with the unraveling destruction of lives happening inside buildings constructed with taxpayer dollars, dotting the landscape of this simmering, green place I both love and hate at the same time.

What can we do? This is a question I hear from many people in response to what I publish, a question I ask myself every waking hour of every day. I sincerely wish I had a good answer. I am lucky to have a platform with my writing and reporting, so exposing feels like doing something, although because nothing is changing, things are only getting worse, I question whether exposure is actually something or just another nothing.

I settle on my resolve, it is something, sometimes it’s the only something, and the alternative is these things occur in the dark with no light, and that’s never helped anyone or anything.

So far this year I have counted 34 deaths due to violence, drugs or suicide. 22 drug-related, 10 homicides and 2 suicides. Those numbers are outpacing the deaths in 2021, which was the deadliest year inside ADOC since I began tracking this data in 2018. July of 2021 was the deadliest month on record, but by the end of the month, the toll was at 30 deaths for the year. We’re already at 34 and there’s still 12 days left in this month. I sincerely fear what’s to come.

One of my sources sent me a message about the suicide at St. Clair and a stabbing he witnessed in his housing area (it wasn’t fatal). I wrote back “God, I am sorry.” His response was immediate.

“Beth we can’t be sorry anymore. We have to do something.”

So what can we do? Seriously, what the hell can we do? What can free people do in conjunction with incarcerated people who want to stop this and see change? There are staff members of ADOC that are appalled and disgusted. Maybe not many, but a few that have reached out to me. How can we harness all of this collective energy, all of these hearts that want to change things, but are separated by prison walls and electrified fences and the whole performative prison system bullshit? Please leave suggestions. Let’s start a conversation here.

What can we do about prison deaths?