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FBI: Noose found in Black NASCAR driver’s stall was there for months

Federal agencies investigating a noose found in the garage stall of Black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace said Tuesday that the noose had been in the stall since late 2019 and that no federal crimes were committed.  “On Monday, fifteen FBI special agents conducted numerous interviews regarding the situation at Talladega Superspeedway.  After a thorough review … Continued
June 23, 2020

Private prison company vying to build Alabama’s new prisons mulling strategies amid falling stock prices

Shares for the private prison company bidding to build one or more of Alabama three new prisons are down more than 50 percent this year, and the company is reconsidering its business model.  Tennessee-based CoreCivic’s shares are down by nearly 51 percent from a year ago, and down by 250 percent from 2017. The company … Continued
June 22, 2020

Parole officers shot at in Bessemer

Thursday, two law enforcement officers from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles were fired upon as they approached a Bessemer home to conduct a supervisory visit with an offender. Officer in Charge Sidney Yarbrough and Officer Steven Motley, both assigned to the Bureau’s Bessemer Field Office, were not injured in the attack. Other parole … Continued
June 22, 2020

Overcrowded prison accounts for nearly quarter of all prison COVID-19 cases

One dangerously overcrowded prison in Alabama has nearly a quarter of all the state’s confirmed COVID-19 cases among inmates and staff.  Twenty percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases among staff and inmates in Alabama’s prisons were at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County, as of Friday, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.  Twenty-four workers … Continued
June 19, 2020

Alabama correctional officer, inmate sentenced on drug, gun charges

A former correctional officer and an inmate at Fountain Correctional Facility were sentenced to prison earlier this month after being convicted of charges related to a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the Alabama prison.  Wiggins Washington, 52, of Bay Minette, the correctional officer, was sentenced to seven years on charges of possessing a gun and … Continued
June 16, 2020

Third inmate dies after testing positive for COVID-19

An 80-year-old man serving a life sentence at the St. Clair Correctional Facility died this morning after testing positive for COVID-19.  Clarence Shepherd died in the medical isolation area in St. Clair prison, according to a press release from the Alabama Department of Corrections.  Shepherd is the third state inmate to have died after testing … Continued
June 12, 2020

Six inmates at Kilby prison die from illnesses in less than two weeks

In just under two weeks, six inmates at the overcrowded Kilby Correctional facility recently died from illnesses, the Alabama Department of Corrections confirmed for APR on Friday.  Just one of the men was tested for COVID-19, and the test came back negative before his death, ADOC spokeswoman Samantha Rose said in a message Friday.  “Please … Continued
June 12, 2020

Jefferson County DA asks for new trial for man sentenced to death

Jefferson County’s district attorney today has asked for a new trial for a man serving on Alabama’s death row, convicted of the shooting death of Jefferson County deputy William Hardy decades ago.  And he’s not alone in that request. The lead prosecutor who convicted Toforest Johnson of shooting Jefferson County deputy William Hardy in 1995 is … Continued
June 12, 2020