This Week Injustice

Execution by nitrogen hypoxia and missing organs made headlines

(Winter sky in Birmingham’s Woodlawn neighborhood.)

Welcome to this week injustice, the flu edition.

I’m writing this newsletter from the comfort of my bed after fighting both the flu and bronchitis this week. Thankfully I am on the mend.

If you’d like to submit a photo of Alabama’s beauty to run in an edition of this newsletter, email it to me: bethshelburne1974@gmail.com

Hope you’re all staying warm and healthy.

WEEK OF JANUARY 8, 2024

DEATH PENALTY

Federal Judge declines to stop Kenneth Smith’s Jan 25 execution by nitrogen hypoxia and the Alabama Supreme Court declined to review Smith’s appeal. This as more international voices join calls for Alabama to stop this plan and an expert on assisted dying visits Holman Prison, warns that Smith could be maimed, saying advocates rejected the mask-and-gas approach more than 20 years ago because it was unreliable.

You can hear from Kenneth Smith in this interview he did with NPR. 

When it comes to carrying out executions, Alabama is an outlier globally. The United States was the only G7 nation to execute citizens last year, an action by just five states. Two of the 24 executions in 2023 were carried out by Alabama.   

ADOC

A second case of a man dying in ADOC and his body returns to family missing organs. The family of Charles Singleton, 74, says he died in 2021 and his decomposing body was returned missing all organs, including brain. 

Meanwhile the family of Adam Bond seeks a private autopsy to determine his cause of death. Bond died mysteriously at St. Clair prison after expressing fear for his safety. 

Gov. Ivey remains silent and continues to ignore questions about what her office is doing about the prison crisis, reports Alabama Appleseed. Ivey did approve grant to buy body armor for ADOC correctional officers. 

Federal court hearing scheduled for February 8 in forced labor lawsuit against ADOC. The hearing will address a motion for a preliminary injunction to end the current practice of “forced [prison] labor;” and require the state to pay people for working in the prison system. 

ADOC says 66 correctional officer trainees graduated from academy in December, largest class to graduate since 2019. 

Alabama prisons aren’t the only ones struggling with understaffing. A data analysis by the Marshall Project shows prison staffing around nation at lowest level in decades. Interesting that the four states currently building new prisons (Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska and Indiana) have some of the worst shortages. 

Meanwhile two correctional officers from Elmore Prison were arrested and charged with corruption, accused of selling food and other items to an incarcerated man. 

POLICE/JAILS

Woman sexually assaulted by officer in Blount County jail says she was groomed and suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. Lawsuit comes after arrest of second Blount County jailer accused of custodial sexual misconduct. 

33 people were killed by police in Alabama last year, the 10th highest rate of homicides by police in the nation, reports Mapping Police Violence. Across the nation, police killed more than 1200 people in 2023, the deadliest year in a decade. 

AG Steve Marshall blames “a national narrative that is adverse to law enforcement” for the hiring and retention crisis in law enforcement as agencies in Alabama’s larger cities struggle to fill vacancies, particularly Jefferson County, which has 450 fewer deputies than 5 years ago.  

Alabama’s Crime Victims Compensation Commission says it has reduced its backlog, which in June of last year saw 2000 claims languishing. Advocates say other areas still need work. 

LEGAL/COURTS

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Alabama can begin enforcing its ban on care for transgender minors but the challenge to the ban is expected to go to trial later this year. 

Federal judge says Alabama’s lifetime ban on sex offenders residing with children, including their own, is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker, the same judge that declined to stop Kenneth Smith’s execution by nitrogen hypoxia, sided with a Tuscaloosa father who’d been convicted of possessing child porn years prior. "No other state has crafted or enacted such a broad, unyielding rule in this context," Huffaker wrote. 

Lawsuit filed by family of man who died after Guntersville police tased him in “restraint chair” has accepted settlement from city of Guntersville. Travis Banks died in 2021. The amount of settlement was not disclosed. 

In Mobile, prosecutors dropped capital murder charges against a man who’d been jailed for six years awaiting trial. His lawyer says his civil rights were violated.