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
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.
United States Considered Most Punitive Country in the World
July 26, 2010
From The Economist
Mass incarceration in the United States continues at record high levels despite outsized costs. According to recent data reported in The Economist, the United States has the world's highest incarceration rate, locking up five times more people per capita than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and 12 times more than Japan.
EJI's Public Education Efforts Featured on PBS
April 5, 2010
Bryan Stevenson, right, on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.
On April 2, 2010, EJI's Bryan Stevenson discussed the status of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of economic justice on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal. Watch it here.
Also this week, PBS will broadcast the critically-acclaimed film, The Dhamma Brothers. EJI supported the Dhamma Brothers project and film.
EJI Honors George Kendall and Thomas Sager and Celebrates the Release of Diane Jones
March 25, 2010
EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.
On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont's legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Alabama Increases Prison Population Even As Nation Succeeds in Reducing Incarceration Levels
March 18, 2010In 2009, Alabama increased its prison population to over 31,000 people. That same period saw the state prison population nationwide decline for the first time in nearly 28 years as states implemented new technology and parole reforms to reduce reliance on incarceration in the face of crippling costs.
