Excessive Sentences
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Due in large part to the continuing campaign to “get tough” on crime, Alabama’s prison population has skyrocketed from 6000 prisoners in 1979 to over 28,000 prisoners today. Alabama currently has the fifth highest incarceration rate in the country and is among the top 5 states in imposing the longest sentences for violent, non-violent, and drug offenses alike. Alabama’s prisons and jails hold more than twice as many people as they were designed to house. From 2000-2004, Alabama’s spending on prisons increased by nearly 45% -- but its budget for schools increased only 7.5%.
EJI recently succeeded in obtaining relief for dozens of non-violent offenders sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole as a result of Alabama’s notorious Habitual Felony Offender Act. The law mandates a life without parole sentence for a fourth felony even if it is a non-violent crime – like stealing a bicycle, writing a bad check, or drug possession. Through successful litigation in the Alabama Supreme Court and in trial courts across the state, EJI assisted non-violent offenders unfairly condemned to spend the rest of their lives in prison. As a result of EJI’s efforts, many now have won their freedom.
News
Brutal Murder of An Alabama Prisoner by Prison Guards Attracts National Attention
November 29, 2011A new investigative report published by The Huffington Post has generated national attention about guard-on-inmate violence in Alabama prisons. Last year, Rocrast Mack was brutally beaten to death by prison guards at Ventress Correctional Facility. The new report documents a history of violence by some of the officers involved and inadequate responses by state officials to staff violence directed at inmates.
U.S. Supreme Court Reviews Prison Overcrowding and Horrendous Conditions of Confinement
December 3, 2010
The United States Supreme Court on November 30, 2010, heard oral argument in Schwarzenegger v. Plata about whether a federal court in California properly ordered the release of 40,000 prisoners to relieve the severe overcrowding in the state's prisons that has led to inadequate medical and mental health care for prisoners.
Court Finds Part of Alabama's Community Notification Act Unconstitutional
November 9, 2010The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld a ruling by a circuit court judge which struck down part of Alabama’s sex offender statute, the Community Notification Act (“CNA”). The appeals court concluded that the CNA unconstitutionally discriminates against the poor and punishes people solely for the status of being homeless, in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Is Prosecutor Liable for Withholding Evidence of Innocence Resulting in Wrongful Conviction and Man Spending 14 Years on Death Row?
October 18, 2010The United States Supreme Court on October 6, 2010, heard oral argument in Connick v. Thompson, in which the Court will decide whether a man who was convicted of capital murder and held in solitary confinement on death row for 14 years can hold the New Orleans District Attorney's office civilly liable for withholding exculpatory evidence.
Study Shows Money Influenced Judicial Elections With Alabama Spending At The Top
August 22, 2010A new study led by the Brennan Center for Justice has documented how the enormous rise in judicial campaign spending over the last decade threatens the impartiality of our nation’s courts and undermines public confidence in the justice system.