The Stunning Neglect and Racist Politics Behind Alabama’s Prison Strike

In 2020, the Department of Justice sued the state for running prisons that were “riddled” with violence. Since then, things have got worse.

Published by The New Yorker October 6, 2022

By: Isaac Chotiner

On September 26th, prisoners in Alabama began a work stoppage to protest their living conditions and several of the state’s tough sentencing and parole laws. (It’s one of only seven states that do not pay prisoners for their labor.) In response to the strike, Kay Ivey, the state’s Republican governor, called the prisoners’ demands “unreasonable.” Prisoners have reported retaliation by guards. The A.C.L.U. and other groups have documented overcrowding, abuse by guards, and sexual assault in Alabama’s prisons; these issues have long been a concern for human-rights advocates. During the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice sued the state and its Department of Corrections. In the last five years, parole rates have declined precipitously, exacerbating issues such as overcrowding. Meanwhile, deaths in prison have increased by more than fifty per cent, and suicide and drug use are rampant. 

Beth Shelburne is a journalist in Alabama who has been covering the state of Alabama’s prisons. As part of the A.C.L.U.’s Smart Justice Campaign, she is also the author of many of the organization’s reports on Alabama’s prisons. (Her Substack column is called “Moth to Flame.”) We recently spoke by phone. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed the historical roots of the current problems in Alabama’s prisons, why conditions have deteriorated in the past several years, and divisions among the prisoners about how far to take their current protest.