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State releases some prison staffing figures, argues for use of lesser-trained correctional officers

The Alabama Department of Corrections in a recent court filing Friday argues that a new form of correctional officer being hired to staff Alabama’s understaffed, deadly prisons are up to the task.  The Southern Poverty Law Center – the plaintiff in the lawsuit – and the federal judge overseeing the case, have both expressed concern … Continued
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December 27, 2019

Family of Alabama death row inmate hopes for new trial

Recent news coverage in major outlets of the story of Alabama death row inmate Toforest Johnson’s case is giving his family hope that he’ll get a new trial and a chance at freedom.  The family awaits a judge’s ruling on whether he could get that new trial.  “It’s especially difficult around the holidays,” said Johnson’s … Continued
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December 18, 2019

Parole hearings this Week

The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles announced in a statement to the press that it will hold parole hearings for twenty violent offenders this week. Among them one murderer, three sex offenders, and eight who were convicted of robbery. Deashton Luvoris Hayes is a two-time convicted robber. He was sentenced in 2010 to two … Continued
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December 17, 2019

Limestone judge indicted on theft, abuse of office charges

The Alabama Attorney General’s office on Thursday announced the indictment of Limestone County Circuit Judge Douglas Lee Patterson on three felony charges that he used his office for personal gain.  Patterson, 37, was arrested Thursday morning by agents with Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office following indictments by a Limestone County special grand jury, according … Continued
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December 13, 2019

Federal judge concerned over prison staffing, undertrained fill-ins

A federal judge last week pressed attorneys representing the Alabama Department of Corrections about staffing problems that the plaintiff’s attorneys argued may run afoul of a court order to increase correctional officers in the state’s overcrowded, understaffed prisons.  U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in the Dec. 6 hearing, first reported by Alabama Daily News,  asked … Continued
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December 12, 2019