Alabama prison staff shortage worsens despite court order
A federal judge said Friday that Alabama prisons remain critically understaffed, with court filings showing the number of officers in state lockups has continued to drop despite a court order to increase numbers. The prison system has lost more than 500 security staff employees over the last 18 months, according to court filings. “We had horrendous understaffing in this department and something has to be done,” U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said during a status conference in the long-running lawsuit over prison health care. In 2017, Thompson found that mental health care in Alabama prisons is so inadequate that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He said understaffing is one of the root issues and ordered the state to increase the number of corrections officers. William Van Der Pol, a lawyer representing inmates in the lawsuit, told Thompson that Alabama has fewer correctional officers than when the litigation began or at any point where they could find comparative numbers. The state has used pay raises and recruitment efforts to boost officer numbers, but has been hindered by a tight labor market, Bill Lunsford, a lawyer for the state argued. Thompson asked the two sides to compare current staffing levels to what they were in 2014 when the case was filed. Van Der Pol, an attorney with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, told Thompson that based on available numbers the prison system is at its “lowest number in history” for officers working at major facilities. “It has kind of fallen off a cliff for lack of a better word. It has dropped from 1,800 officers down to a little over 1,300 in the last year-and-a-half … They are a lower number today than they have ever been,” Van Der Pol said. Lunsford said the state did not dispute the numbers but called it a misleading “soundbite.” He said the tight labor market has many industries searching for workers and that that is a “difficult headwind” for the state’s effort to hire and retain staff. Increasing staffing has been a priority for the department, said Lunsford. Between 2019 and 2021, the state added more than 1,000 security staffers through recruitment and retention efforts that included pay raises and bonuses, according to Lunsford. “This is not a story of total failure. There have been successes,” he said. Thompson said blaming the low unemployment rate was an excuse and suggested that the department may need to again raise the salaries of correctional officers to recruit the needed workers. Lawyers for Alabama wrote in a court filing that prisons had the equivalent of 1,392 correctional staff members on September 30, 2022, after losing 528 correctional staff since April 1, 2021. On March 31, 2021, they had 1,920 staff members, according to earlier reports filed by the prison system. The numbers included dozens of cubicle operators, who are responsible for door controls but are not certified officers. Lawyers for inmates argued cubicle operators should not count in total security staffing numbers. While lawyers for inmates argued the current staffing numbers are a record low, state attorneys argued in a court filing that it is difficult to compare 2022 and 2017 numbers because of changes in prison operations. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Lawmakers raise concerns, delay prison healthcare contract
Members of a legislative oversight committee on Thursday raised concerns about the Alabama prison system’s $1 billion inmate healthcare contract, questioning a state official about the cost, selection process, and lawsuits filed against an earlier version of the company. The Legislative Contract Review Committee put a 45-day hold on the contract between YesCare Corp and the Alabama Department of Corrections. The delay illustrates lawmakers’ discomfort with the contract but has little practical effect since the committee can’t void the agreement. The four 1/2-year contracts is scheduled to take effect on April 1. Democratic Rep. Chris England, a committee member, argued the contract should be canceled, saying he believed there was a “massive cloud” over the selection process. “We’re talking about a billion dollars. We are also talking about the Department of Corrections. Just based on recent activity, most if not all of the things that the Department of Corrections is involved in probably need to be looked at several times,” England said. A private practice attorney, who is defending the Alabama Department of Corrections in an ongoing lawsuit over inmate medical care, had been named to YesCare’s advisory board in June, according to a company statement. Mary-Coleman Roberts, acting general counsel for the Alabama Department of Corrections, defended the selection process. She said the bids had already been redone because of the concerns. The prison system had initially selected YesCare in July, but rescinded that decision. Roberts said there had been an allegation of improper communication with the selection committee, and although it did not involve the healthcare contract, it “looked bad.” She said they also discovered that Bill Lunsford, the attorney representing the prison system in the lawsuit over inmate care, had the offer to join the YesCare board. “We didn’t think he did anything wrong, but it was enough that we didn’t think it was fair,” said Roberts, adding that Lunsford is no longer joining the board. She said they shared information about the healthcare case with other vendors and added contract language to forbid an overlap of contractors and legal counsel. YesCare also won the second selection process. “We believe that YesCare would be a good partner for the state of Alabama,” Roberts said. She said she understood that there will “probably be some sticker shock with this price tag.” YesCare did not submit the lowest cost proposal, but they scored better for staffing and services, she said. The department did not release the scores or bids. The scoring summary for the bids will not become public record until the contract is executed, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said last month. YesCare was formed out of Corizon, which previously provided healthcare services to the Alabama prison system and was the provider when a class action lawsuit was filed against the state over the quality of healthcare and mental health care. During the oversight committee meeting, Democratic Sen. Billy Beasley asked about litigation filed against YesCare and Corizon in other states. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan sued Corizon over unpaid claims in 2022. “I don’t know that it would be a good idea for the state of Alabama to do business with those charged with litigation,” Beasley said. Republican Sen. Dan Roberts announced at the beginning of the meeting that the contract would be put on hold because of members’ concerns. “We respect the Alabama Legislature’s oversight role in reviewing contracts related to important state services like correctional healthcare,” YesCare CEO Sara Tirschwel said in a statement. “We will continue to work to address any questions on the part of committee members, and we look forward to returning to Alabama on April 1 to serve the people of the state.” The other companies that competed for the contract were Centurion, Vital Core, and Wexford. Wexford is the state’s current provider. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Attorneys: Alabama Making Little Progress in Prison Staffing
This follows a court order that state prisons increase staffing dramatically by 2022.
Kay Ivey says Alabama ‘working’ to avoid a
As Alabama tries to address its troubled corrections system, Gov. Kay Ivey convened a new criminal justice study commission Monday and said the state is working to avoid a Department of Justice lawsuit over prison conditions. Ivey said the Governor’s Study Group on Criminal Justice, which held its first meeting Monday, will “study possible solutions for our longstanding prison problems.” The group will gather data on sentencing reform, recidivism and policies and make recommendations ahead of the 2020 legislative session. “I respectfully submit we need to be tough on crime, but I also submit we need to be smart on crime,” said former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Champ Lyons, Ivey’s representative on the study commission. The panel was convened as the state faces continued criticism of prison conditions, a federal court order to boost prison staffing and improve mental health care and the threat of a lawsuit by the Department of Justice. The Justice Department in April issued a scathing report about what it called excessive levels of violence and inmate deaths in Alabama’s prisons for men. The report listed a chilling litany of examples of violence and said a critical staff shortage was one of the significant factors behind what it called unconstitutional conditions. It also threatened to sue the state unless conditions improve. Ivey said Alabama is continuing negotiations with the Justice Department on how to address the concerns. “We are working hard to avoid litigation. They have clearly stated they do not want to have to pursue that. My team is working with their team and we are making progress,” Ivey told reporters Monday. Bill Lunsford, an attorney for the state, told the panel that the settlement discussions with the Justice Department have been fruitful, but noted they will be lengthy. Lunsford said that in the “best case scenario” a settlement agreement might be reached by the end of the year. Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said the department has taken some immediate measures recommended by the Justice Department. The department has conducted a series of searches to seize weapons, drugs and other contraband that fuel prison violence. The state has raised correctional officer pay in an effort to boost staff. Alabama prisons in April held about 20,000 inmates in facilities originally designed to house about 12,400. That puts the state at about 165 percent of capacity. Lunsford said he did not think the level of crowding violated the Constitution. Some lawmakers on the study commission questioned that assessment. “I really do believe we have an overcrowding problem,” said Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton. Ivey’s administration is exploring a plan to build four new prisons. Alabama faces a separate directive to boost prison staffing under a federal judge’s order in an ongoing lawsuit over prison mental health care. A federal judge in 2017 ruled that the state has provided “horrendously inadequate” care to mentally ill inmates and ordered changes, including increasing staff. The Justice Department said it also wanted to see the state meet the staffing orders in that litigation. “If anybody says we don’t have a problem, they are like an ostrich with their head in the sand. They are just not paying attention,” said Sen. Cam Ward, a commission member who also chairs the legislature’s prison oversight committee. The Department of Justice findings grew out of an investigation started in 2016, although federal investigators have not completed one area of the probe. The Justice Department has an ongoing investigation related to use of “force and sexual abuse by staff,” according to a May court filing. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
