One prisoner who died had intracranial bleeding, fractures of the nose and eye socket, and six knocked-out teeth. Correctional officers who had mistreated him said he fell from a bunk.
Another inmate defecated on himself after a guard hit him 19 times with a nightstick, despite the fact that he was handcuffed.
And then there was a prisoner who begged a corrections officer to kill him after he was also hit with a nightstick while handcuffed.
Those atrocities were detailed in a 28-page report on Alabama’s prison system that was released Thursday by the Justice Department, which said corrections officers frequently used excessive force. The cycle of violence violates prisoners’ constitutional right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment, according to the report.
The report is the latest haunting glimpse of what life is like in overcrowded and understaffed state prisons, which for several years have come under scrutiny by civil rights researchers at the Justice Department and advocates of prison reform .
The researchers said they had reason to believe that episodes of excessive force were not reported or were not reported at all.
“Ultimately, Alabama does not adequately prevent and address unconstitutional uses of force in its prisons, fostering a culture where illegal uses of force are common,” the report said.
Alabama officials have 49 days to address the concerns raised by the report, or Attorney General William P. Barr’s office could sue the state, according to the report.
“Systemic constitutional violations like these cannot be ignored and require a comprehensive approach to address these issues,” Lloyd Peeples, the United States’ acting attorney general for the Northern District of Alabama, said in a statement Thursday.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, but the Republican governor issued a statement to local media outlets characterizing the report as an “expected follow-up” to previous government findings. federal. researchers
“I am committed as always to improving prison security through investment in necessary infrastructure, increased correctional staffing, comprehensive mental health care services and effective rehabilitation programs, among other elements,” said Ms. Ivey.
A spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said Thursday it could not immediately comment on the report’s findings.
Last year, federal investigators discovered a pattern of homicide and rape in the Alabama system and warned that the federal government could sue if the state fails to take steps to improve conditions for prisoners.
It was not immediately clear if federal officials had taken additional steps based on those findings, and a request for additional comment was left unanswered.
According to the Justice Department, which did not review conditions in women’s prisons, there are some 16,000 male prisoners in 13 jails in the Alabama system. The system has faced a number of civil rights lawsuits over the years, including litigation filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery-based nonprofit legal advocacy group.
Ebony Howard, a supervising attorney for the center, said in an interview Thursday that the report’s findings are continuing confirmation of the dire conditions to which prisoners, their families and their defenders have become accustomed.
“People will say, ‘Well, they’re in prison, and that’s what happens when you’re in prison,'” Howard said. “I would vigorously reject that. When people are in prison, they are not sentenced to go to hell. Being incarcerated does not mean that your Eighth Amendment rights are nullified. “
At least one Alabama official declined to release the report Thursday. Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement that state officials had been “ambushed” and had not been previously notified of the report’s findings.
“To be clear, the state of Alabama has never denied the challenges facing the Alabama Department of Corrections,” said Marshall. “At the same time, I have made it absolutely clear from the start that the state will under no circumstances sign a consent decree with the federal government to avoid a lawsuit.”
