Mental illness

Public safety

Advocates stress fairness in halted execution of mentally ill Alabama inmate Roberts

Advocates urge integrity in psychiatric evaluations after Alabama halts David Lee Roberts’ execution, citing severe mental illness concerns.

August 21, 2025

Alabama voters say mental health a top concern, support funding

More than 90 percent of Alabamians identify mental health as a key priority for the state.

Jacob Holmes

January 25, 2024

Alabama executed Joe Nathan James Jr. despite pleas from victim’s family

James was executed for the 1994 murder of Faith Hall, a 26-year-old mother of two.

Josh Moon

July 29, 2022

Sewell announces grants to help the homeless

Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Selma) announced that the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recently awarded $11,445,018 to local “Continuums of Care” (CoCs) across Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program works with local non-profit providers and state and local governments (CoCs) to end homelessness, providing rapid … Continued

Brandon Moseley

January 22, 2020

Opinion

Andrew Brasher still isn’t fit to serve as a federal judge

It is not news that Donald Trump has nominated partisan hacks to serve as federal judges — at pretty much every level. Hacks are his thing. (In reality, Trump likely has never nominated anyone, just stamped his absurd signature on whatever list of rightwing idealogues the Federalist Society plopped down in front him.) But I … Continued

Josh Moon

January 15, 2020

Judge dismisses suit filed by family of mentally ill man shot and killed by police

Brad McBrayer has spent the last five years thinking about the moments before a police officer shot and killed his son. Body camera footage, taken on Nov. 11, 2014, does not show all of those moments. The officers turned on their cameras only after things had escalated. In the footage, 24-year-old David Daniel McBrayer seemed … Continued

Eddie Burkhalter

June 28, 2019

Opinion

Analysis | Ivey to build prisons come hell or legislative high water

Gov. Kay Ivey is going to build three new high-level security prisons to house the state’s most violent offenders and those inmates who are plagued by infirmities and mental illness. Ivey will build these three new correctional facilities come hell or legislative high water because it is right, not because it’s popular. It’s about time … Continued

Bill Britt

February 13, 2019

Opinion

An Alabama Solution to an Alabama Problem: Rebuilding the Alabama Corrections System

In order to correct a problem, you must first admit there is a problem. In Alabama, we have a problem. Our problem is our state’s corrections system. Like many other states, issues of violence, poor living conditions and mental illness persist within our system. These issues, and others, are exacerbated by a crowded inmate population, … Continued

Kay Ivey

February 12, 2019

Opinion

No, Mr. Marshall, it’s you

A few hours after Bridgette Gentry Marshall ended her life on Sunday, June 24, her husband, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, approved a press release that exposed her, “long struggle with mental illness.” Just days later on Wednesday the 27, Marshall summoned the state’s news media to the Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Albertville where, in … Continued

Bill Britt

July 2, 2018

Opinion

State media owes no apologies for Marshall suicide reporting

Reporting death is never easy. There is no good way to do it. There is no right question to ask. There is inevitably the feeling that you, as an outsider, are intruding upon a situation that you cannot fully appreciate because you are not dealing with the loss and pain. But make no mistake: Reporting … Continued

Josh Moon

June 28, 2018