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Alabaster City Schools gets federal grant to bolster security

U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona on Friday announced that the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a $374,883 grant to Alabaster City Schools’ Board of Education to bolster school security.  The grant is administered through the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP), which has awarded almost $50 … Continued
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September 11, 2020

Gov. Kay Ivey awards grants to address impaired driving

Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced the award of more than $743,000 to help Alabama state troopers address impaired and dangerous drivers.  Ivey awarded a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to pay for overtime for troopers to patrol areas known for higher rates of impaired drivers … Continued
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September 4, 2020

Alabama Department of Corrections “disappointed” by “surprise” DOJ report on excessive force

The Alabama Department of Corrections on Friday responded to a scathing report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice detailing correctional officers’ violence against incarcerated men in state prisons, saying the department was “disappointed in the surprise manner” in which the DOJ released the report.  The DOJ’s report details numerous instances of unprovoked and … Continued
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July 24, 2020

Alabama attorney general says state was “ambushed” with DOJ report on mens’ prisons

Reaction to the U.S. Department of Justice’s latest scathing report on Alabama’s broken prisons for men came swiftly on Thursday, and the state’s top law enforcement officer claims Alabama was “ambushed.” The Justice Department report published Thursday details numerous instances of unprovoked and illegal violence against inmates by correctional officers, cover-ups of those crimes by … Continued
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July 24, 2020

Justice Department report finds systemic excessive use of force by prison guards, attempted cover-ups

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday released a report that details why the federal government believes systemic use of excessive force within Alabama’s prisons for men violates the Eighth Amendment.  The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama found systemic problems … Continued
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July 23, 2020

DOJ defends Alabama absentee voting law

The U.S. Department of Justice isn’t using its vast powers to ensure the country’s most vulnerable people can exercise their right to vote, but is instead focusing its efforts on defending laws that clearly violate the spirit of the Voting Rights Act, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center said Tuesday.  The comments, from … Continued
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May 27, 2020

State moves forward with next step in prison lease plan

The Alabama Department of Corrections on Friday opened submitted proposals for the construction of three new prisons in the state, moving Gov. Kay Ivey’s plan for the state to lease three new prisons, to be built by private companies, one step further.  The opening of the proposals took place in a conference call, only the … Continued
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May 15, 2020

Alabamians for Fair Justice urges lawmakers to repeal habitual offender law

Tuesday in Montgomery, over a hundred advocates for criminal justice reform will urge Alabama lawmakers to adopt reforms to help alleviate Alabama’s prison crisis. Alabamians from across the state will push for major changes that would help make prison sentences proportionate to the crimes committed, prevent people convicted of minor offenses from going to prison, … Continued
February 19, 2020