Latest news with #AlabamaDepartmentofCorrections
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Miami Herald
K-9s find drugs in newly hired jail guard's car at facility, Alabama officials say
A newly hired security guard at an Alabama jail was arrested after being accused of having drugs in her car while at the facility, officials said. Shawnia Williams, a new jail guard at Limestone Correctional Facility in Harvest, was arrested July 23 and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Alabama Department of Corrections said in a July 25 news release. According to officials, officers were inspecting cars at the facility when two K-9s found 1.5 grams of marijuana in Williams' car. Williams was taken to the Limestone County Jail, officials said. Additional charges may be pending as the investigation continues, according to officials. 'The ADOC continues to combat illegal contraband being introduced to the state's correctional facilities,' Commissioner John Q. Hamm told WAAY. 'There is no place for corrupt personnel at ADOC.' Harvest is about a 100-mile drive north from Birmingham.
New York Post
11-06-2025
- New York Post
2 death row inmates executed in Florida, Alabama minutes apart for grisly murders
Two death row inmates were executed by a pair of southern states for their twisted murders minutes apart Tuesday evening. Anthony Wainwright was put to death in Florida and Gregory Hunt was killed in Alabama four minutes later Tuesday evening. It's the fourth time this year there have been double-executions, according to USA Today. 3 Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to be killed in Florida. AP Wainwright, 54, was killed by lethal injection 30 years after he raped and fatally shot mother of two Carmen Gayheart, 23, in Lake City. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. shortly after the execution got underway. His final words weren't inaudible from the witness room. Wainwright and his co-defendant Richard Hamilton, broke out of North Carolina prison and while they were on the run carjacked Gayheart's blue Ford Bronco in April 1994. The two men forced her into the car at gunpoint and then raped her in the backseat as they drove off. Wainwright and Hamilton, who died on death row, then dragged her from the car and shot her twice in the back of the head. 3 Gregory Hunt will be executed in Alabama. Alabama Department of Corrections/AFP via Getty Images They were captured the next day and convicted in 1995. Gayheart's sister, Maria David, has kept track of every court hearing and appeal since her loved one's murder. 'I'm looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he's been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again,' she said recently. Wainwright's legal team tried to convince the US Supreme Court to stop his execution — to no avail — by arguing that his exposure to Agent Orange before he was born led to cognitive and behavioral problems throughout his life, according to CBS Miami. Wainwright's father, who fought in the Vietnam War, was exposed to the herbicide and Wainwright was conceived six months after he came back from the war, his lawyers argued. 'Although Mr. Wainwright did not serve in the Vietnam War, and was not even a viable life at that point, he was catastrophically and immutably cognitively damaged from it,' part of the petition states, according to the station. 'Unlike veterans, who make knowing sacrifices for our country in the face of grave risks, Mr. Wainwright had no such choice.' The argument was one of several appeals the Supreme Court shot down Monday. The highest court also rejected a final plea Tuesday morning. 3 One of the two men will be killed by lethal injection. AP Meanwhile Hunt's execution was by nitrogen gas about 35 years after he was convicted of bludgeoning a woman he had been dating, Karen Lane, to death inside an Cordova apartment she shared with Hunt's female cousin in 1988. He was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m. Lane, 32, was so badly beaten that she had 60 injuries, including 20 to the head. She was also sexually abused by Hunt leading up to the fatal attack. He was convicted in June 1990 of capital murder, as well as sexual abuse and burglary. Jurors then voted 11-1 that he be sentenced to death, which the judge signed off on. Hunt claimed in an interview last month he was a changed man, and that the killing was fueled by booze, drugs and overwhelming jealousy after he saw Lane in a car with another man, 'Karen didn't deserve what happened to her,' Hunt said. 'You have your come-to-Jesus moment,' he added. 'Of course, after the fact, you can't believe what has happened. You can't believe you were part of it and did it.' This was the sixth time a state has killed an inmate with nitrogen gas. With Post wires.
Winnipeg Free Press
10-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Alabama to execute a long-serving death row inmate for the 1988 beating death of a woman he dated
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — A man convicted of beating a woman to death nearly 37 years ago is scheduled to be executed Tuesday in Alabama in what will be the nation's sixth execution with nitrogen gas. Gregory Hunt is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday night at a south Alabama prison. Hunt was convicted of killing Karen Lane, a woman he had been dating for about a month, according to court records. The Alabama execution is one of four that had been scheduled this week in the United States. Executions are also scheduled in Florida and South Carolina. A judge in Oklahoma on Monday issued a temporary stay for an execution in that state, but the state attorney general is seeking to get it lifted. This photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Gregory Hunt, who is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. He was convicted of the 1988 murder of Karen Lane. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP) Lane was 32 when she was murdered Aug. 2, 1988, in the Cordova apartment she shared with a woman who was Hunt's cousin. Prosecutors said Hunt broke into her apartment and killed her after sexually abusing her. A physician who performed an autopsy testified that she died from blunt force trauma and that Lane had sustained some 60 injuries, including 20 to the head. A jury on June 19, 1990, found Hunt guilty of capital murder during sexual abuse and burglary. Jurors recommended by a vote of 11-1 that he receive a death sentence, which a judge imposed. Hunt's final request for a stay of execution, which he filed himself, focused on claims that prosecutors made false statements to jurors about evidence of sexual abuse. The element of sexual abuse is what elevated the crime to a death penalty offense. In a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, Hunt, acting as his own attorney, wrote that a prosecutor told jurors that cervical mucus was on a broomstick near Hunt's body. However, the victim did not have a cervix because of an earlier hysterectomy. The Alabama attorney general's office called the claim meritless and said even if the prosecutor erred in that statement, it did not throw the conviction into doubt. Hunt, speaking by telephone last month from prison, did not dispute killing Lane but maintained he did not sexually assault her. He also described himself as someone who was changed by prison. 'Karen didn't deserve what happened to her,' Hunt said. Hunt said he had been drinking and doing drugs on the night of the crime and became jealous when he saw Lane in a car with another man. 'You have your come-to-Jesus moment. Of course, after the fact, you can't believe what has happened. You can't believe you were part of it and did it,' Hunt said. Hunt, who was born in 1960 and came to death row in 1990, is now among the longest-serving inmates on Alabama's death row. He said prison became his 'hospital' to heal his broken mind. He said since 1988, he has been leading a Bible class attended by two dozen or more inmates. 'Just trying to be a light in a dark place, trying to tell people if I can change, they can too. … become people of love instead of hate,' he said. Lane's sister declined to comment when reached by telephone. The family is expected to give a written statement Tuesday night. 'The way she was killed is just devastating,' Denise Gurganus, Lane's sister, told TV station WBRC at a 2014 vigil for crime victims. 'It's hard enough to lose a family member to death, but when it's this gruesome.' The Alabama attorney general's office, in asking justices to reject Hunt's request for a stay of execution, wrote that Hunt has now been on death row longer than Lane was alive. Alabama last year became the first state to carry out an execution with nitrogen gas. Nitrogen has now been used in five executions — four in Alabama and one in Louisiana. The method involves using a gas mask to force an inmate to breathe pure nitrogen gas, depriving them of the oxygen needed to stay alive. Hunt had named nitrogen as his preferred execution method. He made the selection before Alabama had developed procedures for using gas. Alabama also allows inmates to choose lethal injection or the electric chair.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles issues proposed parole guidelines
A prison corridor in Holman Correctional Facility in 2019. The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier this month issued new parole guidelines shortly after the Alabama Legislature made their funding contigent on their development. (File) The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles earlier this month published an updated version of parole guidelines, weeks after the Alabama Legislature voted to make the board's funding conditional on their development. The state determines whether a person should be recommended for parole based on a a point system that accumulates based on a person's predicted risk for recidivism and whether that person will endanger the public. If applicants receive a score of at least 8, the guidelines recommend they be denied. Under the proposed guidelines, With the proposed guidelines under consideration, the parole guidelines recommend that people be denied parole if they receive a score of 9 or higher. The changes add weight to the crime committed by the applicant. Based on the current guidelines, those who commit the most severe crimes receive two points, but the updated guidelines increase it to four points. A severe offense using the current guidelines is given two points. That is the same number of points in the proposed guidelines for an offense characterized as moderate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The new guidelines also use the Ohio Risk Assessment System or the Sex Offender Risk Assessment, which are the same as the current guidelines. However, the updated proposal does not consider a risk assessment from the Alabama Department of Corrections, the institution that most closely tracks the applicant's behavior while incarcerated. Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles and Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, who chairs the Legislative Joint Prison Oversight Committee, and who has also criticized the parole board. Chambliss introduced the budget amendment that required the board to issue the new guidelines to receive funding. The parole guidelines remain voluntary, and members of the parole board have the authority to deny parole to applicants even though the guidelines recommend they be afforded parole. Some legislators and criminal justice advocates Tuesday had specific problems with some of the criteria, such as weighing the severity of the crime more heavily than in the past to other factors, from a person's age to the risk assessment from the Alabama Department of Corrections. Those considerations were not included in the new guidelines. Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, a longtime critic of the board's relatively low parole rates, said Tuesday the new guidelines seemed aimed at increasing the board's 'conformance rate,' or the frequency at which its decisions align with parole guidelines. The board's rate has been at roughly 20% for the past several years. 'I think it is unfortunate the new guidelines don't take into account all the things that some of the applicants have done in order to gain their freedom,' he said. England also called it 'odd' that Corrections' assessment was not included. 'The Department of Corrections basically allows someone to work unsupervised everyday offsite and leave for 72 hours at a time and earn that trust from the Department of Corrections, that the Board doesn't appear to take that into account,' he said. Others said the guidelines do not capture factors that weigh in the applicants' favor, particularly in the section that measures an applicant's behavior while incarcerated. According to the proposed guidelines, a person can receive points for sanctions for both violent and nonviolent actions known as disciplinaries within the past 12 months. 'There are people who have not gotten any disciplinary infractions for the past 10 years or five years and that hard work will not count in their favor for parole,' said Carla Crowder, executive director of Alabama Appleseed, a criminal justice reform organization. 'The restriction to evaluating only 12 months of institutional behavior then serves as a disincentive to follow the rules over the long term.' Another concern is the re-entry plan. Applicants will receive a penalty totaling either one or two points if they submit a reentry plan that is not complete. But to submit a completed reentry plan, it must include both work and home plans. 'It is very difficult for people to gain employment if they are still incarcerated,' Crowder said, explaining that the lack of a job plan should not count against someone, especially people who have no access to online resources to apply for employment or to reentry staff to assist them in that process. By that logic, applicants will automatically be awarded at least one point counted against them for parole. Critics also say the guidelines penalize applicants if anyone from the public, regardless of whether they are the victim or not, speaks against them. The Alabama Attorney General's Office as well as a staff member from Victims of Crime and Leniency (VOCAL), a victims' rights group, regularly attend the parole hearings to oppose parole. Oftentimes, VOCAL does speak with the applicant and bases their recommendations solely on the person's criminal record. 'Also, all the evidence suggests that a person's chances of committing another crime decreases dramatically with age, and there is no section in the parole guidelines where old age is a factor,' Crowder said. 'This is a missed opportunity.' Criminal justice reform advocates, and more recently legislators, have been increasingly concerned with a dramatic decrease in the number of paroles the board has granted in recent years. There will be a public comment period on the proposed updates for the next month. If a legislator has an issue with the proposals, the person can ask that they be reviewed by the Legislative Council who can either reject them entirely, amend them, or accept them. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
In wake of excessive force allegations, some corrections officers got promoted
Despite a prison population with 4,000 fewer incarcerated people than a decade ago, uses of force inside Alabama prisons have increased 47% during that time, according to ADOC's own internal data. (Alex Cochran for Alabama Reflector) The account of what happened during a 2018 incident between an incarcerated man and three Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) officers at Donaldson Correctional Facility differs according to the parties involved. But the results are inarguable. The prisoner was rushed to UAB hospital with multiple injuries, including broken ribs, broken vertebrae and a collapsed lung, according to findings by a U.S. magistrate judge. May 19: The Alabama Department of Corrections has settled over 90 lawsuits alleging corrections officers used excessive force, costing the state millions of dollars. May 20: Even as the prison population has declined, use of force incidents in Alabama's prisons and some corrections officers named in lawsuits alleging excessive force involved have not only held onto jobs, but been promoted. May 21: The anatomy of one inmate's allegations against a corrections officer, and the aftermath. May 22: Who's paying for these settlements? You are. Who's getting the most money from this litigation? Attorneys defending corrections officers. The injured man spent three nights in the hospital. In 2020, he sued the three officers for excessive force. The officers didn't deny that they'd used force, but denied that it was excessive. ADOC's internal use of force report about the incident noted that the prisoner weighed 145 pounds, and one of the officers involved — the one who kneeled on the prisoner's back — weighed about 300 pounds. The officers said that the prisoner had refused an order to enter a cell. One officer then sprayed him with a chemical agent called 'Sabre Red.' They said the prisoner then refused to lie down. So another officer 'took him to the floor,' and the prisoner 'continued to resist and engage in combative behavior.' This version of the story was used to justify the 300-pound officer 'forcefully' kneeling on the man's back, sending him to the hospital. The ADOC supervisor who investigated the incident concluded that the use of force was necessary. 'Officers used a minimum amount of force to gain control of the situation,' he wrote in his report. In 2021, U.S. Magistrate Judge Herman N. Johnson determined the evidence could support a finding of excessive force, and wrote the officers' statements 'cannot be reconciled with plaintiff's verified claim that he was already handcuffed and that offers beat him, as assessed in combination with the extent of his injuries.' Lawyers from the Alabama's Attorney General's Office representing the three officers negotiated a settlement of the case for $40,000, one of 94 settlements paid in excessive force claims against ADOC officers since 2020. ADOC would not comment on specific lawsuits against officers. The Alabama Attorney General's Office, which handles litigation involving ADOC, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The consistent details inside the recent surge in complaints against ADOC officers mirror the DOJ's conclusion in 2020 that the state's seeming indifference in addressing and preventing uses of force in its prisons 'fosters a culture where unlawful uses of force are common.' And despite a prison population with 4,000 fewer incarcerated people than a decade ago, uses of force inside the prisons have increased 47% during that time, according to ADOC's own internal data. The highest number of incidents, 2,659 across the entire system, was reported in 2020. Beginning in March 2020, ADOC facilities were locked down because of COVID, with limited movement, and no outside visits or educational programs. ADOC does not report use of force statistics publicly, but the Reflector obtained the data through an open records request. Three maximum-security prisons reported more than 300 use of force incidents, an all-time high, in 2020. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer reported 348. Limestone Correctional Facility in Harvest reported 308, and Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka 329. 'So much of this violence by officers is senseless and unnecessary,' said former ADOC Warden David Wise, who retired from the agency in 2010 after working in the prisons for 28 years. 'There's not a convict in that system that if he refuses an order, that I can't put in a cell without hurting him.' ADOC policy around use of force is governed by an administrative regulation that the agency will not release publicly, but the Reflector obtained a copy. Correctional officers are allowed to use physical force against men and women in Alabama prisons as a means of control. Force can include the use of batons, chemical sprays or electronic devices like tasers, or physical control defined as 'the use of empty-hand techniques to gain control and compliance of resistance and/or combative subject.' The DOJ defines empty-hand techniques as 'takedowns' unlikely to cause injury, and can include strikes or kicks. But DOJ drew a distinction between legal uses of force that may be justified in a prison setting and ADOC's large number of incidents it deemed unjustified under the legal standard. In findings sent to Alabama leaders in July 2020, the DOJ said that excessive force was 'used frequently' in 12 of the state's 13 major correctional facilities for men. The report cited 17 specific incidents, as well as two that ended in deaths. The state has argued the DOJ's lawsuit was based on 'vague and conclusory allegations' and denied the findings. 'An excessive force claim requires allegations plausibly suggesting that officials applied force 'maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm,'' wrote William Lunsford, the lead attorney representing the state in a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit. 'Plaintiff's barebones allegations fall far short of this standard.' Former ADOC Warden Wise said officers are trained to use the minimum force necessary, and could de-escalate almost every situation by just using their voice. 'Ninety percent of the time, that's how I got out of coming to blows with inmates. I talked to them, reasoned with them,' he explained. 'I also let them know real quick that there was no way they were going to win. Usually, if you let him think about that for a minute, he'll do what's right. Every once in a while you come across an inmate acting like Hercules, but that's very rare.' According to ADOC's use of force policy, officers are allowed to use physical force if a prisoner is aggressive, for self-defense, the protection of others and property, to prevent escape, quell a disturbance or 'when an inmate exercises physical resistance to a lawful command.' Wise said that last justification, when an incarcerated person disobeys a lawful command, is where some officers push the bounds of what's legal and necessary. 'Some of them take that to say, 'OK, well you disobeyed my command. I can whoop your ass.' That's not the way it's supposed to go,' he said. 'If they use proper strategy and do what they're taught in the academy, there should be very few incidents and lawsuits.' The largest excessive force settlement paid since 2020 was in a lawsuit filed by the mother of Steven Davis, whose son was beaten to death by a group of officers, including Roderick Gadson, who was promoted to lieutenant after Davis' death. An internal investigation determined the officers' use of force was justified because they said Davis brandished two prison-made weapons and did not comply with their demands to drop the weapons. Some witnesses disputed this account, saying that officers continued to beat Davis after he dropped the weapons. The Alabama Attorney General's Office declined to press criminal charges against the officers and the state never admitted wrongdoing. But attorneys for the officers agreed to a $250,000 settlement in August 2024. Another case with Gadson at the center involved a beating incident in the same cell block of Donaldson prison in which Davis was killed, three months before his death. The victim, who survived, was taken to UAB hospital via ambulance with multiple injuries, including a broken leg and nose, and fractures in his hand that required surgery. Lawyers representing ADOC agreed to settle that case for $10,000. A review of liability trust fund data and court records identified 10 officers at the center of excessive force lawsuits that settled after 2020 who are still working for the agency, according to payment records available in the Open Alabama checkbook database maintained by the Department of Finance. ADOC confirmed employment of the 10 officers as of March 6, 2025. Gadson is one of five officers identified in this review who was promoted after being named in an excessive force lawsuit leading to a large settlement. Messages seeking comment on Gadson were sent to the Alabama Attorney General's Office and Steven Herndon, an attorney who represented Gadson in the Steven Davis civil suit. Attempts to reach Gadson directly were unsuccessful. David Gespass, an attorney who has represented incarcerated people in litigation against ADOC, views the agency's excessive force problem as one in which 'repeater beater' officers are not held accountable, even when these officers are sued repeatedly for harming prisoners. 'They get defended,' Gespass said. 'They don't have to pay for defense. They don't have to pay if there's liability found, so the problem is that ADOC just doesn't do anything about these guys.' They get defended. They don't have to pay for defense. They don't have to pay if there's liability found, so the problem is that ADOC just doesn't do anything about these guys. – David Gespass, attorney In response to the question of what actions ADOC takes when multiple excessive force lawsuits are filed against an officer, ADOC's spokesperson Kelly Betts wrote that the agency keeps a close eye on litigation, and that 'trends are monitored and discussed with the appropriate stakeholders.' She said ADOC investigates all uses of force and if there is a question about whether the force was justified, the case is presented to a 'use of force review board,' which ADOC established in 2024. Betts wouldn't name review board members, but said the board includes all ranks of security staff and meets 'as necessary.' Consequences of the reviews follow 'State Personnel's progressive discipline guidelines' and Betts wrote that cases constituting criminal acts are handled by ADOC's Law Enforcement Services Division and referred to the local district attorney for prosecution. But Betts could not say how many referrals ADOC has made to prosecutors in excessive force cases. 'ADOC does not currently track that data,' she wrote in response to a request for the number of cases sent to the local district attorney since 2020. The 1996 federal Prison Litigation Reform Act or PLRA sought to curtail unnecessary or frivolous prison lawsuits by severely restricting the ability for prisoners to file any claim. It made it much more challenging for incarcerated people to succeed in court, and resulted in a sharp decline in lawsuits filed over prison conditions. Still, prisons are litigious environments. Incarcerated people across the nation file civil rights complaints against officers and prison staff, but 80% of such cases filed in 2021 resulted in a pre-trial decision in favor of the defendants, according to data compiled by University of Michigan Law Professor Margo Schlanger for A lawsuit will typically only reach settlement after passing complicated procedural requirements, and then passing a court's scrutiny to not dismiss the case for lacking a plausible claim. Several attorneys who have represented incarcerated Alabamaians said in the last few years, courts are dismissing fewer excessive force complaints at the preliminary stages because of the extent of the injuries, and because of video evidence from prison surveillance cameras. Betts said settling a case is not an admission of wrongdoing. 'Cases may settle for a multitude of reasons, the most common one being the cost of continued litigation and/or trial,' Betts wrote in an email response to questions about the record number of excessive force settlements. 'Often, a settlement is reached to save taxpayer money. It's usually cheaper to settle than it is to take a case all the way to trial.' But former ADOC Warden Wise said the record number of excessive force cases resulting in paid settlements should be a red flag to leaders in Montgomery. 'You should have enough confidence to be able to, even when there is a lawsuit, defend it, not settle it,' Wise said. 'And the system needs that money, not for lawsuits, it needs that money to make it better.' This reporting was made possible by support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. When state employees are sued as individuals, Alabama's General Liability Trust Fund is used to pay for their legal defense and any monetary settlement for the plaintiff. This use of the fund was the subject of our reporting, and records helped us identify 124 lawsuits against Alabama Department of Corrections employees that resulted in settlements between 2020 and 2024. Read more about our strategy. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
