Inmate Deaths Prompt Alabama Prisons To Take Steps to Curb Violence
About a week ago, William Smith got a phone call from the Alabama Department of Corrections. The corrections official told Smith his son, Michael, had been injured. Michael was an inmate at Ventress Correctional Facility, south of Montgomery.
“I immediately made arrangements to go down to the hospital, and he was on life support when I got there,” Smith says.
Alabama Department of Corrections
Michael Smith
Smith says Michael was brain dead. He died soon after they took him off life support.
“You don’t expect things like this to happen in prison,” Smith says. “You don’t expect people to die by the hands of others. Particularly those in position to guard and protect.”
Smith’s death was one of two inmate deaths announced Monday by the prison system. In Smith’s case, officials are investigating alleged use of force by prison staff. Two correctional officers have been placed on leave.
Alabama prisons have been mired in violence for some time, both violence among prisoners and involving corrections officers. But Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn says these latest deaths demand immediate action.
“We’re concerned about the level of violence in our facilities and we’re taking what we believe to be some aggressive steps to curb that violence,” Dunn says.
This week, Dunn created an internal task force to look into prison violence. Prison staff will be retrained in how to handle inmates, including de-escalation techniques. He says the department is accelerating plans to have correctional officers wear body cameras.
“We hope to pilot the introduction of body cameras for one of our facilities here in the very near future,” Dunn says.
Local advocates say they’re glad the department is making an effort, but they’re not completely convinced it will work.
“Are these actions just the DOC saying, ‘We’re doing something.’ Or are we looking at it from a systematic approach? Because it is a systematic issue,” activist Salaam Green says.
The Department of Corrections faces mounting pressure to reform state prisons, which are among the most violent in the country. More than 20 inmates have died this year.
U.K. leader’s chief of staff quits over hiring of Epstein friend as U.S. ambassador
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump administration lauds plastic surgeons’ statement on trans surgery for minors
A patient who came to regret the top surgery she got as a teen won a $2 million malpractice suit. Then, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons clarified its position that surgery is not recommended for transgender minors.
Sunday Puzzle: -IUM Pandemonium
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with KPBS listener Anthony Baio and Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
Thailand counts votes in early election with 3 main parties vying for power
Vote counting was underway in Thailand's early general election on Sunday, seen as a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist and old-fashioned patronage politics.
US ski star Lindsey Vonn crashes in Olympic downhill race
In an explosive crash near the top of the downhill course in Cortina, Vonn landed a jump perpendicular to the slope and tumbled to a stop shortly below.
For many U.S. Olympic athletes, Italy feels like home turf
Many spent their careers training on the mountains they'll be competing on at the Winter Games. Lindsey Vonn wanted to stage a comeback on these slopes and Jessie Diggins won her first World Cup there.
