PDF Condemned: Hundreds of men are sentenced to die in prison for crimes with no physical injury. They haven’t given up on life. Why has Alabama given up on them?
Alabama has one of the most draconian habitual offender laws in the country. The law has led to multiple generations and hundreds of individuals being incarcerated for life without the possibility of parole in Alabama’s prisons, and has contributed to Alabama’s prisons being declared unconstitutionally violent, dangerous, and overcrowded by the United States Department of Justice. This report sets forth the case for a legislative reform of Alabama’s Habitual Felony Offender law by sharing stories of older incarcerated men who will die in prison without reform. Many have impeccable institutional records and are warehoused in prison honor dorms. It compares Alabama’s statute to other Southern states and shows how this harsh, unnecessary law is not only inhumane, but it is a poor use of government resources in a perpetually financially strapped state.