Alabama’s overcrowded prison system has been under close scrutiny since the Justice Department started investigating it last year. That came after a report detailed cases of sexual abuse of inmates at the Julia Tutwiler prison for women. Since then, the system’s faced additional lawsuits.
If big changes aren’t made during the upcoming legislative session, the state risks a federal takeover. Alabama’s Prison Reform Task Force is working to draft legislation to improve the prison system. State Senator Cam Ward of Alabaster is the task force’s chairman.
As we head into the 2015 session, Ward sat down with WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley to talk about the proposed legislation, and who has been involved in the process.