Federal judge finds Alabama jail like a “slave ship," orders immediate reduction in population, other reforms

After comparing the cells of the overcrowded jail in Morgan County, Alabama, to the holding brigs of 18th-century slave ships, a federal judge ordered immediate preliminary relief for the unconstitutional overcrowding, living conditions, and medical treatment at the jail.

 Morgan County, Ala., jail cell
A crowded cell at the Morgan County Jail.

The jail, built for 96 inmates, averages about 250 prisoners, most of them waiting to be transferred to the state prison system. Because Alabama’s prison system is so overcrowded, people sentenced to prison are often left in county jails for a long time before they are transferred to prisons.

After touring the jail and hearing testimony from inmates, Judge U.W. Clemon found on April 21, 2001, ''The sardine-can appearance of its cells more nearly resemble the holding units of slave ships during the Middle Passage of the 18th century than anything in the 21st century.'' He declared conditions in the jail “uncivilized, medieval, and barbaric.” The Judge found:

  • Inmates were crowded into filthy, fetid cells and required to sleep on the concrete floor space under and between bunks, next to toilets and urinals, and on tables used for meals.
  • ''Sometimes, inmates are not provided with sleeping mats, blankets or sheets.''
  • Cells are dirty and unkempt and inmates aren't provided adequate cleaning supplies and equipment to clean the jail themselves. Soiled clothes, papers and other debris litter the floors. Cells are poorly ventilated and vents need cleaning.
  • Inmates unable to purchase towels, soap and other items for personal hygiene are often denied such items. ''The food is inadequate in amount and unsanitary in presentation.''
  • There is a dangerous delay in providing care for inmates' medical needs and jailers are indifferent to the needs of mentally ill inmates.
Inmates bunked on the floor
Like sardines:  People sleeping on the floor underneath bunks at the jail in Morgan County, Alabama.
The judge also noted that a state fire marshal inspected the jail Sept. 22, 2000, and reported numerous safety violations, including failure to have working fire and smoke alarms, that had not been corrected.

The Center’s lawyers and investigators joined Alabama lawyer John Russell, III, in bringing a class action lawsuit again the sheriff who runs the jail, the county commission, the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Governor of Alabama. 

The judge first heard about the conditions and toured the jail on March 14, but concluded that he was required to dismiss the suit because of a barrier erected by Congress in the Prison Litigation Reform Act, adopted in 1996. The Act requires inmates to present grievances to prison or jail authorities before filing a lawsuit. The judge ruled that the Act required the inmates to file grievances even though the grievance procedure was confusing and the jail officials were powerless to get the Alabama Department of Corrections to remove the inmates who were awaiting transfer to the state prisons.

Southern Center staff spent several days in Decatur assisting the inmates complete grievance forms and ensure their compliance with each step of the grievance process, before refiling the case on April 5. At a hearing on April 12, several inmates testified about conditions at the jail. One woman who was bipolar had been denied medication by the jail on the theory that her mental illness was a “preexisting condition” for which the jail was not responsible. The woman had been assaulted in the jail, maced at least three times, and thrown into a cold, dark, bare observation room stripped of her clothing.

The judge ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to remove inmates from the jail and required the sheriff and county officials to develop plans to deal with other problems at the jail.

Read press accounts of the Morgan County Jail case

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