Corrections, gambling to be focus of legislative session
The state prison crisis is expected to take center stage in the legislative session.
Department of Corrections seeks money to hire more officers
Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn asked lawmakers for a $42 million funding increase.
Attorneys: Alabama Making Little Progress in Prison Staffing
This follows a court order that state prisons increase staffing dramatically by 2022.
Cam Ward and Matt Fridy: A positive note in prison debate
The news surrounding the Alabama corrections system seems to be one negative story after another with much of the focus on the need for reform and consolidation in the system as well as higher quality of service and better outcomes. Much of this is true and is a result of inadequate funding, not because of poor leadership or management. In fact, we would argue that ADOC has some of the best leadership under Commissioner Jeff Dunn and his team that we have had in some time. They are tackling the bigger problems and looking for ways to solve them in the face of many challenges. However, not everything at ADOC is bad news, in fact there is one diamond among the rough that Dunn and his team have recognized as an example of how corrections could be run with the appropriate funding and dedication to positive outcomes for those leaving the system and returning to their local communities. The Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility in Columbiana, Ala. will have been open for ten years this coming March and have worked with almost 7,000 ADOC inmates who participated in an innovative six month rehabilitation program at the facility. The program is a partnership between the GEO Group as well as ADOC and the Alabama Department of Post Secondary Education. Here the participants come from DOC facilities all over the state and enter into a six month evidence based program of drug rehabilitation, education and an opportunity for a vocational degree in five different trades and crafts via our community college system. We have toured the ATEF and it is in fact a model of what we as legislators would like to see across the state of Alabama. Why? What are the results from almost ten years at this unique medium security facility? According to the Alabama Department of Corrections this past July, over those ten years, the ATEF has an average recidivism rate of 15%. To put that into context, the state of Alabama’s recidivism rate is 35% (per ADOC) and the national average is 76%. In fact, a U.S. Bureau of Justice study stated that within five years of release, 76% of inmates leaving state facilities are rearrested. The challenge we have in Alabama and will continue to have, is adequate funding for proven programs such as ATEF. However, with a commitment from the Ivey Administration, the ADOC, ALDPSE and the legislature, the teaching and the treatment and the vocational degrees for participants going back to their local communities can continue and will at ATEF. Alabama should be looking for ways to fully utilize ATEF and expand this model with proven results into other areas of our state’s corrections system. Simply put, the results speak for themselves and if we dedicate funding to expanding a program with a 15% recidivism rate, numerous lives will be improved and the state will see the benefits for decades to come. ••• Cam Ward is a Republican member of the Alabama Senate. He has represented District 14 since 2010. Matt Fridy is a Republican member of the Alabama House. He has represented District 73 since 2014.
Personnel note: ADOC promotes Lagreta McClain, Chadwick Crabtree to warden
The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) on Thursday announced the promotions of two new wardens within the state’s prison system. Effective Friday, Dec. 1, Largreta McClain will be the Warden I at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka and Chadwick Crabtree will be the Warden I at Birmingham Community Based Facility. Following a brief assignment at the Holman Correctional Facility, McClain worked at the Easterling Correctional Facility just short of 10 years before transferring to Tutwiler at the rank of sergeant. She continued to progress in her career and received a promotion to captain in 2015. “It is such an honor to have the opportunity to recognize someone that has worked so hard and is so deserving of a promotion,” said Deputy Commissioner of Women’s Services Wendy Williams. “Warden McClain has prepared herself for this opportunity and she is ready to take on this leadership role at Tutwiler.” Crabtree spent the majority of his career at the Limestone Correctional Facility before his promotion to lieutenant and subsequent assignment to the Decatur Community Based Facility in 2011. He was promoted to captain in 2016 and accepted an assignment to the Birmingham Community Based Facility. “I am very grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to working closely with the staff, volunteers and the community,” said Crabtree. “Our efforts will be focused on providing a safe work environment for our employees and delivering effective reentry services to those in our custody who are preparing to leave the prison system.”
Alabama joins states asking high court to OK execution drug
Attorney General Luther Strange announced in a statement released Wednesday that Alabama has joined 12 other states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a lethal injection drug. Arguments will be heard by the Supreme Court on April 29 regarding the effectiveness of the sedative midazolam in executions. Oklahoma inmates contend the drug constitutes cruel and unusual punishment after it was used in several problematic executions. Midazolam is the first drug to administered in a three-drug process. Strange’s office, in the court filing, said the drug was “humane and successful” pointing out that it has been used in 11 prior executions. The brief states, “There is no execution method or drug protocol that the states can adopt to stanch the flood of litigation, unless this Court strictly requires plaintiffs to identify a readily available alternative to the state’s method of execution.” Alabama agreed to halt executions earlier this year. AL.Com reported U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins said of a pending case, “That it is in the best interests of justice to continue a May hearing in that case until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the lethal injection case of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip.” According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, there are 193 inmates on the state’s death row
