Alabama’s prison system, which has been plagued with violent conditions and drug use due to understaffing and crowding, saw significant signs of improvement in 2024, according to some state lawmakers and officials, though much work remains to be done, advocates say.
“This year we’ve definitely seen some progress,” said Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaking with Alabama Daily News about the state’s prison system. England has been among the most vocal advocates for prison reform.
“For example, we went from an 8% parole rate to a 25% parole rate, which I think reflects a lot of different things. I think the efforts of the public to inform, to advocate and also expose issues within the system had a net positive impact on the process.”
Issues remain
Cam Ward, director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, also commended the progress, but noted significant issues still remained, and likely would for years.
“I don’t think this is a sprint, I think it’s a marathon,” Ward told ADN. “It took us years to dig ourselves into this criminal justice hole, and I think it’s going to take us years to get out, but I think all of us involved in the criminal justice system, the fact that we have a Re-entry Commission where we’re talking about ways forward, we’re finally, for once, unified.”
Conditions
Both violence and drug use have increased within Alabama prisons in recent years. In 2023, there were a record-325 deaths with Alabama’s prisons, 89 of which were overdose deaths, a 20% increase over the previous year.
The state has also faced mounting pressure from federal officials to improve conditions within its prisons. In 2017, a federal judge ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to hire an additional 2,000 officers to address staffing shortages, though as of July. And in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state over its violent prison conditions, threatening a federal takeover should conditions not be improved.
In 2024, however, Alabama lawmakers and state agencies made several steps toward improving prison conditions.
The Board of Pardons and Paroles, for instance, which granted parole to a progressively smaller share of eligible inmates for six consecutive years, saw its parole grant rate skyrocket in fiscal year 2024 to 25% from 8% the previous year under mounting public and legal pressure.
While a significant increase, England said he would still like to reform the parole board to implement more guidance, and require its members to provide written explanations for deviating from its parole guidelines.
“There has to be some sort of bureaucratic element to the system so parole rates don’t rise and fall based upon either agendas or personalities, there has to be some element that’s repeatable and dependable so we can actually assess the results and get a good read on them,” he said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Alexander Willis and originally published by Alabama Daily News. It is reprinted with permission.
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