DOJ Issues Scathing Report On 'Severe,' 'Systemic' Problems In Alabama Prisons

Source: Talking Points Memo/The AP



By KIM CHANDLER and Eric Tucker
April 3, 2019 12:11 pm

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Justice Department has determined that Alabama’s prisons are violating the Constitution by failing to protect inmates from violence and sexual abuse and by housing them in unsafe and overcrowded facilities, according to a scathing report Wednesday that described the problems as “severe” and “systemic.”

The federal government also is putting the state on notice that it may sue if officials there don’t make improvements soon.

“Our investigation found reasonable cause to believe that Alabama fails to provide constitutionally adequate conditions and that prisoners experience serious harm, including deadly harm, as a result,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, who leads the department’s civil rights division. “The Justice Department hopes to work with Alabama to resolve the Department’s concerns.”

The report detailed a litany of problems in the state’s 13 prisons for men, which together house roughly 16,000 inmates. Those include an overcrowding rate that the Justice Department says ranks among the highest in the nation and a “crisis level” staffing shortage.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/doj-report-alabama-prisons-violating-constitution