Families Rally at Alabama State Capitol: Family members of incarcerated individuals in Alabama expressed their distress at a State Capitol rally, highlighting the inhumane treatment and violence faced by their loved ones in the state’s prisons. The rally, held before a Joint Prison Oversight Committee meeting, drew attention to the pervasive violence and mistreatment within Alabama’s correctional facilities.
Alabama has a history of issues, leading to a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2015 and subsequent lawsuits over allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Reports from the DOJ in 2019 and 2020 detailed violence among inmates and assaults by correctional officers.
Cookie Garner, a mother with three sons in the prison system, shared the harrowing experience of one son being sexually assaulted and facing ongoing abuse. Another son has been incarcerated for nearly 15 years, while a third, released, grapples with mental illness.
Shantelle Quinley described her son being denied prompt medical attention after an attack, resulting in severe injuries. The high death rates in Alabama prisons were also emphasized during the rally, with Kelly Helton expressing concern about the lack of protection and rehabilitation for inmates.
Reports indicate 266 deaths in prison by December 28, 2022, with Alabama’s prison homicide rate seven times the national average. The rally aimed to draw attention to the urgent need for reform and improved conditions within the state’s correctional facilities.
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