AG Marshall on prisons: ‘My hope is that both sides recognize that litigation is not in the best interest’ of DOJ, State of Alabama

Now that some three weeks have passed since the Department of Justice released a report highlighting deficiencies throughout the Alabama Department of Corrections’ prison system, it remains unclear what the objective was of the U.S. Attorneys that authored the document.

The timing suggests that the report could be a tool to motivate the decisionmakers in state government to act on alleged civil rights violations within the system. However, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the report’s purpose is still unclear.

During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Marshall said the letter could be a step in the process to proceed with litigation but argued that litigation would not be “in the best interest” of either the federal or state governments.

“[T]his was a report — again, nothing that we don’t need to make sure we stand up and make sure that we correct — but of older news that was already in the public domain,” he said. “And so why it is the Department of Justice chose to do that at this point, I can’t particularly tell you. Although I will say just simply as a matter of federal law, the issuance of that report becomes a trigger for them after a certain period of time for them to be able to initiate litigation. So, that singularly could be the basis for it.”

“My hope is that both sides recognize that litigation is not in the best interest of either party,” Marshall continued. “But the problem with that consent decree, I think as you well know, is that high turnover, control by assigning it to third parties that are not connected to Alabama, that have direct ability to impact the general fund, and the amount of money that goes to the prisons in the general fund, and for which there is zero accountability to the people of Alabama, the decisions that make, and I’m just simply not going to do that.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.