Group Asks DOJ to Investigate Alabama Prisons

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – An advocacy group is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it called illegal and unconstitutional conditions in Alabama prisons.

Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative, is calling Alabama prisons the worst in the country.

Stevenson says his organization has asked DOJ to expand an investigation into a troubled Alabama prison for women to include all of the state’s prisons. Stevenson his organization has uncovered abuses, contraband-dealing by prison staff and dangerous conditions.

State officials have acknowledged problems in the state prison system but said they are working to fix the problems.

Alabama prisons hold nearly twice the prisoners they were originally designed to house.