Discussion for article #247295
Sadly, Alabama prisons are among the worst in the US and that’s a rather low bar. I suspect if Alabama prisons were located in, oh, Cuba or anywhere else in the Americas, they would be denounced by the State Department and seen (as they are) as serious human rights violations. Conditions in Alabama prisons are worse than you might imagine.
And, I’d guess, conditions are unlikely to change soon. The GOP dominated state government is probably going to figure out a way to move education (and maybe BP) money around and build a few more prisons but they are also equally likely to put more people in jail. More or less turning off mental health care for poor people throughout the state isn’t going to help.
Did you know that “Alabama sheriffs are personally responsible for paying for prisoners’ food, but are allowed to keep any excess funds if they can feed prisoners for less than the payments they receive from the state”? (See: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2010/apr/15/appalling-prison-and-jail-food-leaves-prisoners-hungry-for-justice/) Yup, Alabama sheriffs get a bonus personal slush fund from feeding prisoners, oh, waste products from cat food factories or worse.
The 2014 DoJ report on sex abuse at Alabama’s Tutwiler women’s prison is horrifying: “At least thirty-six of the ninety-nine total employees were identified as having had sex
with prisoners—approximately 36% of current staff. If we include staff that were identified for other forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment, the number of staff involved in sexually inappropriate behavior nearly doubles.” https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/01/23/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf
Here’s a recent Vice article that outlines some of the big picture issues in Alabama prisons–violence, crowding, corruption, sex abuse, for starters. Evil food is one of the smaller problems. http://www.vice.com/read/the-horrific-state-of-alabamas-prisons