This Week Injustice- May 5, 2024

End of session edition

My in-laws garden in Meridian, Mississippi

When I first started writing about prisons 12 years ago, the stories I heard sounded like hyperbole. Extortion, excessive force, sex abuse, sadism, torture, kidnapping, homelessness. In prison?

I thought, naively, NO WAY this insanity can be true.

Fast forward to today, and the human rights catastrophe of mass incarceration continues to leave me speechless.

Alabama prison system functions like massive drug trafficking operation with cruelty at its core.

Many people hear about prison horrors and shrug. But this phenomenon happens on our watch, on our dime.

There’s a lot of outrage, rightfully so, about horrors around the world. But they also happen right down the street in communities across our country.

Alabama prisons are an American problem. Mississippi prisons are an American problem. Georgia prisons are an American problem. Oklahoma prison are an American problem. Louisiana prisons are an American problem.

You get the idea. The shit show of mass incarceration is on all of us. I write about Alabama, but these atrocities are universal.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Here’s a look at injustice making headlines from this past week. Be well, everyone. Take care of each other!

LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Prosecutors say the bill allowing the criminalization of librarians is murky on details, HB 385, sponsored by Republican Arnold Mooney, allows misdemeanor charges against a librarian who doesn’t remove a book after an obscenity complaint is filed by a patron. Murky and ridiculous. 

As we approach the end of this outrageous session, here’s a look at the record breaking state budget with $150 million MORE allocated for MORE prison construction. If you don’t know why this is a bad idea, see the column below on why we can’t build our way out of prison problems. 

A bill to allow people to appear virtually at their own parole hearings advances, despite opposition from crime victims organizations, who prefer keeping Alabama as an outlier as one of the only states that doesn’t allow the person being considered for parole to participate in their own hearings. Here’s a good examination of the interesting debate surrounding the issue. 

A lawsuit has already been filed the new law that criminalizes absentee ballot assistance. The NAACP sued Alabama to block enforcement of SB 1. Critics have said ballot harvesting is not an issue in Alabama. 

ADOC/PAROLES/DEATH PENALTY 

If you can stomach it, ADOC Commissioner John Hamm was on Capital Journal and gave an update on prison construction and shared pictures. 

Lisa Hall talks to the Daily Mail about her husband Jeff’s mysterious and suspicious death at Limestone Prison in March. She believes Jeff was killed because he’d been informing the DOJ about atrocities inside ADOC. 

Correctional officer at Fountain arrested for contraband (a candy bar), and ADOC’s press release referred to Shemira Jackson as a “security staff member” but I’ve been told by sources that she was a supervisor, maybe a Leutenant. I asked ADOC to clarify her position and rank, haven’t heard back. Earlier in the week a man was arrested on the property of Elmore prison and is facing contraband charges. 

Lots of attention has been paid to the abysmal parole rate, but this deep dive looks at the falling grant rate with pardons, including regular opposition from the AG’s office. A pardon is a restoration of rights only available to people who have paid all debts, served entire sentence, etc. There is no public safety argument to oppose a pardon. Ridiculous. 

32 years ago, this woman shot her abuser, but still the parole board won’t let her go. Another infuriating installment of Alabama media group’s deep dive into our busted parole board. 

After the legislature failed to pass a bill making the ban on capital case judicial override retroactive, here’s a look at the 30 people on death row the bill would have helped. 

Alabama cannot build its way out of the prison crisis. Terrific op-ed by Brian Lyman hits the nail on the head. 

Alabama’s Supreme Court authorizes the second execution by nitrogen hypoxia. Alan Miller, who they tried to kill last year by lethal injection but botched the attempt, is slated for the second horrific suffocation killing. The court approved the AG’s request to set a date. A new lawsuit sheds some light on the earlier botched execution attempt of Miller last year. 

Mike Blakely, once the state’s longest serving sheriff, released from custody after a parole grant earlier this month on a 2-1 vote by the board, Leigh Gwathney voted to deny his release. Blakeley was convicted of stealing from his campaign. 

More college programs are coming into prisons around the country, but reinstating pell grants comes with steep challenges, according to this well reported piece. 

POLICING 

Selma’s mayor unleashed on the city’s police department after the police chief was suspended after numerous incidents citizens, and the mayor, believe have been poorly handled. 

Alabama Political Reporter unwinds the proseuctorial excess example of former Jefferson County Constable Jonathan Barbee, who was subjected to a protracted legal battle over alleged crimes, only to have the case completely fall apart. 

ALEA releases details after a man was shot by Montgomery police and left in critical condition. 

Protestors who were arrested in their ongoing demonstrations against Decatur Police over the shooting death of Steve Perkins reject a plea deal. 

Walker County Sheriff’s office partners with Birmingham Fellowship House to offer rehabilitative services to those in jail. However, county commission must now approve funding for the program. 

Families and advocates share thoughts on what could curtail gun violence in Birmingham. 

More than 2000 pro-Palestinian protestors arrested across the United States, including more than 200 college students. 

Case dismissed against two journalists in Atmore who were arrested for doing their jobs. This in-depth piece details the unconstitutional saga endured by the publishers of the Atmore News. 

SOMETHING POSITIVE

The city of Birmingham announced a new coordinated program for people leaving prison. The one-year pilot program forms the Birmingham Reentry Alliance and will provide housing, case management and other services for 30-50 people. HURRAY!