Department of Justice Issues Scathing Report on Violence, Including Rape, in Alabama's Prisons for Men

Date:  04-07-2019 Some prisons were operating at 182% of capacity and some had only 20% of staff positions filled, leading to "a high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature, and pervasive"

From the introduction of the DOJ’s report: The Civil Rights Division and the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the State of Alabama (“Department” or “Department of Justice”) provide notice, pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1997 et seq. (“CRIPA”), that there is reasonable cause to believe, based on the totality of the conditions, practices, and incidents discovered that: (1)the conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men (hereinafter “Alabama’s prisons”) violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and (2) these violations are pursuant to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights protected by the Eighth Amendment. The Department does not serve as a tribunal authorized to make factual findings and legal conclusions binding on, or admissible in, any court, and nothing in this Notice Letter (“Notice”) should be construed as such. Accordingly, this Notice is not intended to be admissible evidence and does not create any legal rights or obligations. Consistent with the statutory requirements of CRIPA, we write this Notice to notify Alabama of the Department’s conclusions with respect to numerous constitutional violations, the facts supporting those conclusions, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the identified deficiencies. There is reasonable cause to believe that the Alabama Department of Corrections (“ADOC”) has violated and is continuing to violate the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoners housed in men’s prisons by failing to protect them from prisoner-on-prisoner violence, prisoneron-prisoner sexual abuse, and by failing to provide safe conditions, and that such violations are pursuant to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights secured by the Eighth Amendment. The violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision; overcrowding; ineffective housing and classification protocols; inadequate incident reporting; inability to control the flow of contraband into and within the prisons, including illegal drugs and weapons; ineffective prison management and training; The Civil Rights Division and the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the State of Alabama (“Department” or “Department of Justice”) provide notice, pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1997 et seq. (“CRIPA”), that there is reasonable cause to believe, based on the totality of the conditions, practices, and incidents discovered that: (1) the conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men (hereinafter “Alabama’s prisons”)1 violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and (2) these violations are pursuant to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights protected by the Eighth Amendment. The Department does not serve as a tribunal authorized to make factual findings and legal conclusions binding on, or admissible in, any court, and nothing in this Notice Letter (“Notice”) should be construed as such. Accordingly, this Notice is not intended to be admissible evidence and does not create any legal rights or obligations. Consistent with the statutory requirements of CRIPA, we write this Notice to notify Alabama of the Department’s conclusions with respect to numerous constitutional violations, the facts supporting those conclusions, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the identified deficiencies.2 There is reasonable cause to believe that the Alabama Department of Corrections (“ADOC”) has violated and is continuing to violate the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoners housed in men’s prisons by failing to protect them from prisoner-on-prisoner violence, prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, and by failing to provide safe conditions, and that such violations are pursuant to a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights secured by the Eighth Amendment. The violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision; overcrowding; ineffective housing and classification protocols; inadequate incident reporting; inability to control the flow of contraband into and within the prisons, including illegal drugs and weapons; ineffective prison management and training. Read the full report here.