April 3, 2009 - Attorneys from the Southern Center for Human Rights petitioned a federal court to permit an independent correctional security expert to conduct an immediate, full, and thorough inspection into the living and working conditions at Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama.

This request was made in the context of Hicks v. Hetzel, Civil Action No. 2:09-cv-155-WKW (M.D. Ala), a lawsuit, filed on February 26, 2009, in which four prisoners have challenged the overcrowded, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions at Donaldson.

The plaintiffs’ request for an immediate investigation into conditions at Donaldson has been joined today by Captain Lloyd Wallace, the elected President of the Alabama Correctional Organization (“ACO”), an organization of over 500 persons employed or formerly employed by the Alabama Department of Corrections (“ADOC”).

The ACO was created in 2007 to provide a forum for the employees of the ADOC to discuss ADOC issues and solutions; to strengthen the professionalism of correctional officers by improving techniques, training, raising basic standards, and compiling and disseminating information and knowledge; and to unite all correctional employees with an accepted standard of conduct and code of ethics.

In a declaration filed in federal court, Captain Wallace expressed concern about the effects of vast prison overcrowding on those who work in Alabama’s prisons. According to Captain Wallace, the combination of overcrowding and understaffing at Donaldson and other Alabama prisons has led to a dangerous environment for both officers and inmates. Staffing shortages are sufficiently serious that the Department must shut down security posts on a daily basis, and supervisory personnel often work prison posts assigned to line correctional officers. ACO members are often asked to enter inmate living areas with 250-400 inmates, alone, and without sufficient backup. “Our members at Donaldson and other prisons are being placed at risk on a daily basis,” stated Captain Wallace.

Given the dire conditions at Donaldson and other Alabama prisons, the ACO “supports efforts by the Plaintiffs in this case to permit an outside prison security expert to conduct an immediate, full, and thorough investigation into the living and working conditions at Donaldson.” The ACO urges “immediate action” by the State to remedy unsafe and overcrowded conditions for officers and inmates at Donaldson and other Alabama prisons.