Alabama Department of Corrections

Last updated

Alabama Department of Corrections
AL - DOC.png
Patch
AL - DOC Seal.png
Seal
AbbreviationADOC
MottoProfessionalism, Integrity, Accountability
Agency overview
Formed
  • February 3, 1983 (1983-02-03)
  • (41 years ago)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionAlabama, US
Map of USA AL.svg
Map of Alabama Department of Corrections's jurisdiction
Size52,419 square miles (135,760 km2)
Population4,887,871 (2,018)
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Montgomery, Alabama
Elected officer responsible
Agency executives
  • John Q. Hamm, Commissioner
  • Anne Hill, Chief of Staff
Parent agency State of Alabama
Facilities
Major facilities

Work releases
15

18
Website
ADOC Website

The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) is the agency responsible for incarceration of convicted felons in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is headquartered in the Alabama Criminal Justice Center in Montgomery. [1] [2]

Contents

Alabama has relatively long mandatory sentencing laws compared to most other states, resulting in a rising prison population stemming from longer prison sentences. It operates the nation's most crowded prison system. In 2015 it housed more than 24,000 inmates in a system designed for 13,318. [3] In 2015 it settled a class-action suit over physical and sexual violence against inmates at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka. [4] The department also spends the least of any state on a per-prisoner basis. [5]

As of 2018, Alabama has the 6th highest incarceration rate under state prison or local jail jurisdiction per 100,000 population in the U.S.

History

Alabama prisoners in both the county jails and state penitentiaries have been required to work at farming and cotton plantations since the 1840s. By the 1878, convict labor rented from the state was used most commonly in the coal mining industry, often as strike breakers. [6] In 1894 one coal company employed 1,138 convicts, another used 589. [7] In late 1883, a state inspector discovered a prisoner working in a mine eight years after the end of his sentence. [8]

At the Banner Mine disaster in 1911, most of the 128 killed were Black convicts. [9] The state ceased renting prisoners to mines in about 1900, although county sheriffs continued the practice until 1927. [10]

In the 1970s, Alabama prisons were ordered to undertake major reforms by a Federal judge who described some conditions as "barbaric." Among other things, the judge ordered the closing of "dog houses," the name for hot, dark and filthy cells jammed with inmates being punished. [11]

In 2007 the prison system ended its farming programs, rendering many prisoners idle. [12]

In 2016, Governor Robert Bentley proposed $800 million dollars in state bonds to build four large prisons, each with a designed capacity of 3,500 prisoners. This program would allow the state to close an unspecified number of older facilities. Press reports indicate the troubled Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women would be the first to be replaced; a federal class-action suit was settled in 2015 over abuse of women at that facility. [3]

In October 2016, the US Department of Justice announced that it was conducting a review and investigation of Alabama's men's prisons to evaluate conditions as the Constitution promises humane treatment. "The investigation will focus on whether prisoners are adequately protected from physical harm and sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners; whether prisoners are adequately protected from use of excessive force and staff sexual abuse by correctional officers; and whether the prisons provide sanitary, secure and safe living conditions." [13]

In his February 2017 State of the State address, Governor Bentley talked in more detail about his proposed three-faceted approach to overhaul the Department of Corrections: "One, close Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and build a new 1,200 bed women’s facility; Two, consolidate 13 of 15 close- and medium-security men’s facilities into three, new, 4,000-bed, state-of-the-art prisons and; Three, repurpose and renovate the remaining antiquated, facilities into Rehabilitation and Re-entry Centers focused on preparing inmates for release back into the community." [14]

In June 2017 a federal court pointed out the Department provided inadequate mental health case, suicide prevention, psychotherapy, programming, out-of-cell time as well as monitoring of suicidal inmates.

In 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice found conditions in Alabama prisons to be unsafe and unconstitutional, as result of a long civil rights investigation prompted by numerous deaths from violence in Alabama lockups. Prisoners routinely face prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual abuse, unprotected by the State. The DOJ notes "a high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature, and pervasive." The detailed report outlines cases of inmate deaths, rapes, extortion of prisoners' families and rampant contraband weapons and drugs. It says facilities violate the constitution, by not providing "adequate humane conditions of confinement". [15]

By the end of 2019, the legislature had not yet funded Governor Bentley's plan for new facilities. The state announced that most of the Holman prison would be closed. [16]

In October 2021, Governor Kay Ivey signed a prison construction package into law. The $1.3 billion package includes three prison construction bills and one prison reform bill. Among them, House Bill 5 allocates $400 million of federal COVID relief funds towards the construction of two new 4,000 bed facilities. [17] House Bill 2, a sentencing reform bill, requires "inmates to spend a period at the end of their prison sentences on release under supervision by the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles instead of staying in prison until the last day." [18] [17] The construction cost of one facility, a 4,000-bed men's prison in Elmore County, increased by 56 percent to over $1 billion in 2023. [19]

In January 2024, a lawsuit was filed after prisoners who’d died while in Alabama DOC custody were returned with vital organs missing. [20] This follows several reported incidents of prisoners being found dead in Alabama prisons being returned missing such organs.

Operations

All female inmates are sent to the receiving unit in the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. [21]

Facilities

Death row

Unlike other states, Alabama has no provision to provide counsel to prisoners on Death Row. Prisoners' rights groups such as the Equal Justice Initiative based in Montgomery, Alabama, have worked to fill the need. They have gained the exoneration of numerous innocent men on death row and prevented the deaths of others whose cases were considered worthy of resentencing.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that persons convicted of crimes committed as children cannot be sentenced to death. In addition, it has ruled that persons convicted of crimes committed as children cannot be sentenced to life in prison without parole (LWOP), saying that both kinds of sentences are unconstitutional. It has directed that its ruling on LWOP is to be applied retroactively and states must undertake reviews of prisoners who were sentenced to LWOP for crimes committed as children.

Holman Correctional Facility is the site where all executions authorized by the state are conducted. [22] Its male death row originally had a capacity of 20. In the summer of 2000, capacity was increased to 200 single cells. [22]

The William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility has a male death row with a capacity of 24. [23] Donaldson's death row houses prisoners who need to stay in the Birmingham judicial district. [24] Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women holds the female death row. [25]

In February 2018, the Alabama Department of Corrections was responsible for carrying out the botched attempted execution of Doyle Hamm. [26] [27] During the execution attempt, executioners attempted for nearly three hours to insert an IV that could be used to administer the lethal injection drugs. In the process, the execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding. [26] [28]

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Alabama Department of Corrections, eleven officers and three K-9 have died while on duty. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Department of Corrections</span> State agency that operates prisons

The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. As of 2020 Burl Cain is the commissioner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas Department of Corrections</span> American government agency

The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, the Arkansas Division of Corrections (ADC) and the Arkansas Division of Community Corrections (DCC), as well as the Arkansas Correctional School District. ADC is responsible for housing and rehabilitating people convicted of crimes by the courts of Arkansas. ADC maintains 20 prison facilities for inmates in 12 counties. DCC is responsible for adult parole and probation and offender reentry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Department of Corrections</span> Sector of Colorado government concerned with the operation of state prisons

The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorado Springs. The Colorado Department of Corrections runs 20 state-run prisons and also has been affiliated with 7 for-profit prisons in Colorado, of which the state currently contracts with 3 for-profit prisons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment by the United States federal government</span> Legal penalty in the United States

Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Quentin Rehabilitation Center</span> California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men

San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Bureau of Prisons</span> Corrections agency of the US federal government

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the U.S. Department of Justice that operates U.S. federal prisons and is responsible for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Medical Center, Carswell</span> Womens federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

The Federal Medical Center, Carswell is a United States federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, for female inmates of all security levels, primarily with special medical and mental health needs. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a prison camp for minimum-security female inmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Department of Correction</span> Government agency in Tennessee, United States

The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is a Cabinet-level agency within the Tennessee state government responsible for the oversight of more than 20,000 convicted offenders in Tennessee's fourteen prisons, three of which are privately managed by CoreCivic. The department is headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Correction, who is currently Frank Strada. TDOC facilities' medical and mental health services are provided by Corizon. Juvenile offenders not sentenced as adults are supervised by the independent Tennessee Department of Children's Services, while inmates granted parole or sentenced to probation are overseen by the Department of Correction (TDOC)/Department of Parole. The agency is fully accredited by the American Correctional Association. The department has its headquarters on the sixth floor of the Rachel Jackson Building in Nashville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holman Correctional Facility</span> Alabama prison and execution center

William C. Holman Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections prison located in Atmore, Alabama. The facility is along Alabama State Highway 21, 9 miles (14 km) north of Atmore in southern Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntsville Unit</span> Texas state prison

Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately 54.36-acre (22.00 ha) facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The facility, the oldest Texas state prison, opened in 1849.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Ohio Correctional Facility</span> Maximum security prison in Scioto County, Ohio, U.S.

The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma State Penitentiary</span> Prison in McAlester, Oklahoma, U.S

The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on 1,556 acres (6.30 km2). Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates. They also hold many death row prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Women's Prison</span> Prison in Indiana

The Indiana Women's Prison was established in 1873 as the first adult female correctional facility in the country. The original location of the prison was one mile (1.6 km) east of downtown Indianapolis. It has since moved to 2596 Girls School Road, former location of the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility. As of 2005, it had an average daily population of 420 inmates, most of whom are members of special-needs populations, such as geriatric, mentally ill, pregnant, and juveniles sentenced as adults. By the end of 2015, the population increased to 599 inmates. Security levels range from medium to maximum. The prison holds Indiana's only death row for women; however, it currently has no death row inmates. The one woman under an Indiana death sentence, Debra Denise Brown, had her sentence commuted to 140 years imprisonment in 2018 and is being held in Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Alabama</span> Legal punishment in Alabama

Capital punishment in Alabama is a legal penalty. Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States. In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large. However, Texas has a higher rate of executions both in absolute terms and per capita.

Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution, even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists. In the United States, after an individual is found guilty of a capital offense in states where execution is a legal penalty, the judge will give the jury the option of imposing a death sentence or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. It is then up to the jury to decide whether to give the death sentence; this usually has to be a unanimous decision. If the jury agrees on death, the defendant will remain on death row during appeal and habeas corpus procedures, which may continue for several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilby Correctional Facility</span> Prison in Alabama, US

Kilby Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) prison for the state of Alabama, located in Mt. Meigs, an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Alabama, with a capacity to house over 1,400 inmates. A section of the city of Montgomery covers a portion of the prison facility.

Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) is a prison for women with its permanent pre-2016 facility located in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. It is the only female correctional facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Elayn Hunt Correctional Center is immediately west of LCIW. LCIW includes the state's female death row. As of 2017 the prison has temporarily moved due to flooding that occurred in August 2016, and its prisoners are housed in other prisons. The administration is temporarily located in the former Jetson Youth Center near Baker. By 2021 the Baker area address was given for the prison on the LCIW website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women</span> Prison in Wetumpka, Alabama, United States

The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is a prison for women of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), located in Wetumpka, Alabama. All female inmates entering ADOC are sent to the receiving unit in Tutwiler. Tutwiler houses Alabama's female death row, which qualifies it for the "maximum security" classification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility</span> Prison

Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (TCCF) is a private prison for men, authorized by the Tallahatchie County Correctional Authority and operated by CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The maximum-security facility is located in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, near Tutwiler in the Mississippi Delta. Since its opening with 352 prisoners, the prison has expanded capacity nearly ninefold, holding 2672 inmates by October 2008. It has housed inmates from Wisconsin, Colorado, Hawaii, Wyoming, Vermont, and California, in addition to prisoners from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2010 the facility served as a county jail and also housed more than 1,000 prisoners from California. Since 2013, it has not held Mississippi state prisoners.

Colorado State Penitentiary is a Level V maximum security prison in the U.S. state of Colorado. The facility is part of the state's East Cañon Complex, together with six other state correctional facilities of various security levels.

References

  1. "Correctional Facility Directory Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine ." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on December 8, 2009. "Administrative Office 301 S. Ripley/P O Box 301501 Montgomery"
  2. "ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION OPR: COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS NUMBER 490." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on October 8, 2010. "Alabama Criminal Justice Center 301 S. Ripley Street P. O. Box 301501 Montgomery, AL 36130-1501."
  3. 1 2 Alan, Blinder (March 15, 2016). "Alabama Prison Uprisings Come as State Grapples With How to Fix System". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  4. Bryan Lyman, "U.S. Justice Department to probe Alabama men's prisons", Montgomery Advertiser, October 6, 2016; accessed March 11, 2017
  5. Robertson, Campbell (March 29, 2017). "An Alabama Prison's Unrelenting Descent Into Violence". New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  6. Flynt, Wayne (February 5, 2016). Poor But Proud. 3017: University of Alabama Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. Flynt, Wayne (February 5, 2016). Poor But Proud. 3033: University of Alabama Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. Flynt, Wayne (February 5, 2016). Poor But Proud. 5580: University of Alabama Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. Flynt, Wayne (February 5, 2016). Poor But Proud. 2990: University of Alabama Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. Flynt, Wayne (February 5, 2016). Poor But Proud. 5601: University of Alabama Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. "Inmates Fight 'Work or be Shackled' Policy". The New York Times. September 5, 1993.
  12. Baggett, Connie. "Prison farms are up for sale Archived 2012-10-06 at the Wayback Machine ." Press-Register . Tuesday July 1, 2008. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
  13. "Justice Dept. Announces Statewide Investigation into Conditions of Alabama's Prisons for Men", Press Release, October 6, 2016, Dept of Justice
  14. "Governor Robert Bentley Announced Prison Transformation Initiative as his Top Priority in the 2017 State of the State Address", Alabama Department of Corrections website; accessed March 11, 2017
  15. Elliott, Debbie (April 3, 2019). "Justice Dept. Finds Violence In Alabama Prisons 'Common, Cruel, Pervasive'". NPR . Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  16. Benner, Katie (January 31, 2020). "Plans for Alabama's Deadly Prisons 'Won't Fix the Horrors'". New York Times. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  17. 1 2 Burkhalter, Eddie (October 1, 2021). "Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs bills approving prison construction into law". Alabama Political Reporter. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  18. Cason, Mike (October 2, 2021). "Gov. Kay Ivey calls Alabama prison-building plan 'major step forward'". al. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  19. Cason, Mike (September 26, 2023). "Price on Alabama's new 4,000-bed men's prison rises above $1 billion". AL.com. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  20. "Alabama prisoners' bodies returned to families with hearts, other organs missing, lawsuit claims". CBS.
  21. "Tutwiler Prison for Women Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine ." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on July 20, 2010.
  22. 1 2 "Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003." Alabama Department of Corrections. 33/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. Quote: "which also included a cellblock for 20 death row inmates." and "The death chamber is located at Holman where all executions are conducted." and "A major addition was completed in the summer of 2000 to add 200 single cells to the segregation unit. This addition was required to keep up with the increasing number of inmates on Death Row which had grown to more than 150."
  23. "Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003." Alabama Department of Corrections. 21/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "Donaldson has a death row unit with a capacity of 24 inmates."
  24. "Donaldson Correctional Facility Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine ." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on October 8, 2010.
  25. "Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003." Alabama Department of Corrections. 45/84. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. "Tutwiler also has a death row,"
  26. 1 2 Segura, Liliana (March 3, 2018). "Another Failed Execution: the Torture of Doyle Lee Hamm". The Intercept. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  27. Cohen, Roger (February 27, 2018). "Opinion | Death Penalty Madness in Alabama". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  28. "Lawyer describes aborted execution attempt for inmate as 'torture'". NBC News. February 26, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  29. The Officer Down Memorial Page