never intended for an open-ended probe of an entire correctional system.

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
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Date: Apr 17 2019 12:50 PM

MONTGOMERY:     FUNNY!   

 Below is taken from the AL.com article which is a quote from the response given by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to the Department of Justice ( DOJ ) request for documents.

This is the same man who was very critical of Jefferson County Sheriff Pettway who said he was not going to waste resources fighting misdemeanor bingo but concentrate on violent crime.

So Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall sent his Attorney General Investigators and ALEA - State Bureau of Investigators to Jefferson County to stop misdemeanor bingo. But did nothing on violent crime.

Now he is seen where he put roadblocks from the Department of Justice who was seeking truthful answers of why the Alabama Prisons are number one in the entire United States of America in homicide rates in the Alabama Prisons.

Ironically, under former Attorney General Luther Strange and now Attorney General Steve Marshall's watch.

So I ask you, which is more important: (1) Jefferson County Sheriff Pettway stand that violent crime is where he needs to focus, or (2) Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall's stand and focus on electronic bingo?

AG STEVE MARSHALL'S RESPONSE ON ELECTRONIC BINGO

In a Nov. 14, 2018 response filing, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and other officials argued that the DOJ had gone beyond the parameters of the legislation used to begin the investigation – the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980, or CRIPA – which they argued was never intended for an open-ended probe of an entire correctional system.

“From any fair reading of CRIPA, the statute is not designed to be a ‘gotcha’ mechanism, particularly where, as here, prison administrators are doing everything within their power to remedy long-standing and difficult-to-resolve issues,” the brief argued. The DOJ later countered that there is a long history of statewide investigations to look into possible CRIPA violations.

 

DOJ fighting for correctional officer records in Alabama prison probe

“From any fair reading of CRIPA, the statute is not designed to be a ‘gotcha’ mechanism, particularly where, as here, prison administrators are doing everything within their power to remedy long-standing and difficult-to-resolve issues,” the brief argued. The DOJ later countered that there is a long history of statewide investigations to look into possible CRIPA violations.

 

DOJ fighting for correctional officer records in Alabama prison probe FROM AL.com

While the U.S. Justice Department has already released a report following its two-and-a-half year investigation into Alabama men’s prisons, it’s not finished. The DOJ is still in court arguing for more information from the Alabama Department of Corrections.

According to an April 4 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden, the Justice Department has until Thursday to show why, now that the report has been issued, its requests for documents related to reports of excessive force and sexual abuse against inmates by correctional officers “is now moot.”

A footnote on the first page of this month’s 62-page report on Alabama’s prisons says that the investigation was opened to look at whether ADOC was adequately ensuring inmate safety from physical and sexual violence between inmates, and whether inmates had safe and sanitary living conditions.

However, the footnote goes on to say that an investigation into a third issue - whether inmates were safe from excessive force and sexual abuse from staff members – is ongoing “because the Department’s petition to enforce its subpoena for documents relevant to that issue is pending with the court.”

Earlier this month, the DOJ concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that conditions in Alabama’s men’s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment. Investigators found failure to protect prisoners from violence and sexual abuse, or provide them with safe conditions.

The conclusions came after an investigation by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama. Since 2012, Alabama men’s and women’s prisons have come under repeated scrutiny for staffing and safety, as well as a pervasive atmosphere of documented sexual and physical abuse.

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