Everything you need to know about the growing chaos in Alabama’s prisons

Over 100 inmates in Alabama’s William C. Holman Correctional Facility attempted to take control of the prison over the weekend, sparking chaos that included two stabbings and multiple fires.

A corrections officer was stabbed while attempting to stop one inmate from beating another. The prison warden was also stabbed when he and other corrections officers responded to calls for help. The stabbings were not life threatening, but the inmates subsequently gained access to the facility’s hallway and began setting fires.

Three emergency teams were sent to restore order to the facility, which is located in Atmore, about 75 miles north of Mobile.

“The inmates who were responsible for assaulting the officer and warden, and other inmates involved in the disturbance, have been segregated from the prison’s general population,” corrections officials said in a statement. “Criminal charges are pending against the inmates who were involved in the incident.”

An inmate who goes by “PA Brazeal” recorded a video of the mayhem on a contraband cell phone. Many such devices have now been seized by prison officials in a system-wide crackdown.

(Video below: Chaos inside Holman Correctional Facility. Warning: Explicit language.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1wf2JwV3Yw

The Holman riot was the second outbreak of violence in Alabama’s prison system in the past week. Another corrections officer was also stabbed while trying to break up a fight at St. Clair Correction Facility. A total of six inmates were killed as a result of violence inside Alabama’s prison system in 2015.

“There have now been two events in just the last four days involving violence within two Department of Corrections facilities,” said Governor Robert Bentley. “Alabama’s prison system is at a critical point. A volatile mix of overcrowding and understaffing have created an environment that is dangerous to both inmates as well as the Corrections Officers who serve our state. Our state must take the necessary steps to address and solve this problem immediately. We must reduce overcrowding and provide facilities that are safer and more secure for both inmates and corrections officers.”

Alabama has the second-highest number of inmates per capita in the nation and the state’s prisons are filled to roughly twice their capacity, prompting some to speculate that the federal government may intervene.

In the 2011 Supreme Court case Brown v. Plata, the Court effectively required the State of California to remove 46,000 criminals from its prisons by forcing The Golden State to cut its prison population to 137.5 percent of “design capacity.”

The Public Policy Institute of California found that property crime increased by 7.6 percent the year after the mass releases. Car thefts rose almost 15 percent. In short, 24,000 more people had their car stolen in California in 2012 as a result of the state not being able to get its prison overcrowding problem under control.

Alabama’s prisons are currently at roughly 187 percent of design capacity, 50 percent higher than the level the Court mandated for California.

The Alabama legislature last year passed a plan to reduce the state’s prison population by 4,500 inmates over the next five years by reducing penalties for some nonviolent drug crimes and bolstering programs designed to reduce recidivism.

Alabama’s prison problems have been exacerbated by the state’s beleaguered General Fund Budget, of which corrections is the second largest line item behind Medicaid.

Alabama has seen a 95 percent increase in the cost per inmate over the last two decades. The state currently spends just over $15,000 per inmate each year, which comes out to roughly $41 per inmate per day.

Governor Bentley is pushing a plan this year for an $800 million bond issue to build four new prisons. He says the plan could pay for itself through savings achieved by closing some existing facilities. The legislature is currently considering the plan.