Families describe assaults and deaths behind bars during hearing on Alabama prison conditions

Families of people incarcerated in Alabama prisons have described assaults, rapes, extortions, deaths and rampant drug availability and overdoses behind bars at a legislative public hearing. The Joint Legislative Prison Committee held the hearing Wednesday to take public input amid Alabama's ongoing prison crisis. At least four speakers described how their loved one died in state custody. The Alabama prison system has long come under criticism for high rates of violence, crowding and chronic understaffing. The U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 filed a lawsuit against Alabama arguing that prison conditions are so poor that they violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.