Alabama has one of the most horrific jail and prison systems in the world.
Just last week, in an Alabama jail, a man froze to death after corrections officers put him in a restraint chair, and then left him in the freezer for hours.
Fatal overdoses, fatalities—they happen almost daily across the state. Correctional facilities are overcrowded and understaffed.
John Hamm, the commissioner for prisons, told lawmakers recently that the number one problem affecting the system is a shortage of well-trained guards. This is fair. Being a prison guard is probably the worst job in the world. We pay them almost nothing. There’s no aura of knee-jerk respect that accompanies police officers.
It always struck me that when Andrew Cuomo, in his prime as America’s Hero/Dad at the start of Covid, always thanked the “essential workers” — from EMTs to grocery clerks—but never mentioned corrections officers, who risked their lives and their families’ lives to prop up America’s commitment to incarcerating as many people as possible.
But, then, JFC:
The commissioner called cell phones and contraband “our main problem” outside staffing. Hamm said cell phones are replaced almost as quickly as officers confiscate them.
“The majority of the contraband comes out over the fence,” he said. “We have been putting stuff out on social media about the arrests we have been making on this because we are very active on it, but it doesn’t seem to get traction.”
He asked for $13 million dollars for “cell phone interdiction” in three facilities. Are you kidding me? “Can we have $13 million in tax payer dollars to make sure that inmates don’t get to talk to their children without shelling out ungodly amounts of money to access the jail and prison messaging systems?”
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