|
|
| Allegations of abuse, increased violence real concerns in Alabama |
| By annistonstar.com - The Anniston Star Editorial Board |
| Published: 06/06/2012 |
|
Consider this a quintessential way not to operate a state prisons system: Cram inmates into prisons as if they were discarded clothes piled into storage boxes. Stuff ’em in and close the lid. Hire too few guards to oversee the ever-growing number of prisoners. Cut $16 million from the state prisons’ budget for the coming year. Tell the prisons’ management that another $35 million in budget cuts may be on the way. Do that, and then wonder: Is a subsequent increase in prison violence a legitimate concern? Yes, Alabama, it is. Recent weeks haven’t been good for Alabama’s prisons. The 2012 session of the Legislature ended without a full political answer to the state’s overcrowded prison population. In late May, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment from male guards at Julia Tutwiler Prison. The investigation began after the legal-aid group Equal Justice Initiative filed a complaint based on its own interviews with 50 inmates at the state’s maximum-security prison for women. Last Sunday, meanwhile, the Birmingham News reported that three inmates had been killed in Alabama prisons since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year last October. That relatively small number may seem insignificant until you consider that the prisons system had reported at most only one homicide during the previous four years. Read more: Anniston Star - Pause about prisons Allegations of abuse increased violence real concerns in Alabama Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think