澳彩开奖 calls on Gov. Bentley to release U.S. Department of Justice letter on Alabama prisons
The 澳彩开奖 today called on Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to release the from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announcing that it is opening a wide-ranging investigation into the conditions in Alabama鈥檚 prisons.
Update: Governor Bentley early Thursday evening.聽
鈥淥nly the most egregious of conditions would prompt the federal government to open a major investigation into the state's prison system,鈥� said 澳彩开奖 president Richard Cohen. 鈥淲e welcome the investigation and call on Governor Bentley to immediately release the letter he received today from the DOJ so that the people of Alabama can understand the seriousness of the problems the state is facing.鈥�
The 澳彩开奖 is currently litigating a statewide class action lawsuit alleging that Alabama is failing in its constitutional obligation to provide adequate mental health and medical care to incarcerated Alabamians. The state is also facing multiple lawsuits about rampant violence in its prisons and strikes by prisoners and correctional officers.
鈥淎labama鈥檚 prisons are out of control because the state incarcerates too many people and the prisons are poorly managed,鈥� said Cohen. 鈥淕overnor Bentley thinks the answer is to spend $1.5 billion on building new prisons, but the problems facing聽the Alabama Department of Corrections聽cannot be solved by construction. If we embark on a costly and ill-planned massive prison construction plan without carefully calibrating it to coincide with continued, significant decreases in the state鈥檚 prison population, we鈥檙e likely to end up where we started 鈥� with too many prisons and an unnecessarily high prison population that uses state resources that could be better spent on increasing public safety and improving the lives of all Alabamians.鈥�
