SPLC Suit against Alabama Prisons

   

  The Montgomery based Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit against The Alabama Department of Corrections claiming the conditions of Alabama prisons violate the U.S. Constitution.
You can read the report they issued this morning here.

One of the photos included in the SPLC report.

     Alabama's prisons have historically been underfunded and overcrowded. Another suit was filed earlier this year over sexual assaults at the women's prison in Wetumpka.
     Prison officials themselves have issued warnings about a dangerous prisoner to guard ratio.
     40 years ago Alabama's prison system was placed under federal court rule...and the potential exists for another takeover.
     No Alabama politician was ever elected promising to treat prisoners better.  

[UPDATE: Governor Bentley on Tuesday named a Task Force to study the problems. A spokesperson for Bentley said it was not in connection with the SPLC report. Would someone count the number of similar panels named since the 1976 Federal Takeover?]