Government

Work Release Suspension Has Hurt the Pockets of Inmates, Prisons and Victims

UPDATED — Responding to the coronavirus, the Alabama Department of Corrections suspended its work release program in mid-March, and figures for May show how that decision has led to a drastic drop in inmate earnings, the amount of restitution that work release inmates pay to their victims, and the amount of inmate earnings that goes to corrections itself. Payments to victims were cut by almost $100,000 in May, which includes some time before the program was suspended, compared to February. Money to corrections was cut more than $700,000, and $534,000 less was deposited to inmates’ accounts. Read more.

by Tom Gordon

DOJ Finds Excessive Use of Force In Alabama’s Male Prisons

In a report released Thursday, U.S. justice officials said men confined to Alabama’s prisons are subject to excessive force at the hands of correctional officers. They said the issue is pervasive and systemic and likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In the 30-page document, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the three U.S. Attorney’s Offices for Alabama said prison staff regularly use batons, chemical spray and physical attacks to improperly and unjustly punish inmates. They said the excessive force can result in serious injury or death, citing two men who died in 2019 at the hands of correctional officers. Autopsies found both men were beaten so badly, they were left with intracranial bleeding and multiple head and body fractures. Read more.

by Mary Scott Hodgin, WBHM 90.3

Skip the Politics, Wear a Mask, Jefferson County Commissioner Knight Says

Before Tuesday’s Jefferson County Commission committee meeting, Joe Knight asked fellow commissioner Steve Ammons how he felt. When Ammons, who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said he felt fine, Knight quipped, “You don’t look very good.” Today, as Ammons again watched the commission meeting in Bessemer online from home, Knight appealed to everyone to wear a mask to slow the spread of COVID-19. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Preparations Begin for FedEx Ground Distribution Facility on Lakeshore Parkway

A plan to build a FedEx Ground distribution facility on Lakeshore Parkway was unveiled at the Jefferson County Commission committee meeting Tuesday. The plan, previously known as Project Fish, is for an approximately 290,000-square-foot distribution facility that will be constructed on a 46.01-acre site off Lakeshore Parkway. Bradley attorney Trey Hill said that about 70% of the site is in the corporate limits of the city of Birmingham and 30% in the city of Bessemer. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Council OKs Partial Transit Funding Under Protest From Hoyt

Despite delays in the city’s overall operating budget, the Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to fund the Birmingham-Jefferson Country Transit Authority through the end of 2020. The city will pay the BJCTA $5 million dollars, divided into two quarterly installments of $2.5 million, “to make sure there’s no disruption in service at all” as the city enters for its months-long budget negotiations, Mayor Randall Woodfin said. Councilor Steven Hoyt protested, saying the move was tantamount to cutting BJCTA funding in half, even as other councilors said the allocation was for only part of the year, and the BJCTA also would be included in the final budget when it is passed. Read more.

by Sam Prickett

Anti-COVID Absentee Ballot Rules Extended to Cover Aug. 25 and Nov. 3 Elections

Absentee voting rules that were in place to lower the risk of spreading the coronavirus during the July 14 runoff have been extended to cover the Aug. 25 municipal elections and the Nov. 3 general election. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announced the change in a statement Monday. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Jones Starts Last Leg of Campaign With Almost 16 Times as Much Money as Tuberville

Freshman Democrat Doug Jones, widely regarded as the most vulnerable member of the U.S. Senate in the November general election, heads into the race against Republican Tommy Tuberville with a huge cash advantage, according to reports the candidates filed Wednesday with the Federal Elections Commission. In reports for the second quarter of this year, Jones showed a campaign balance of $8.78 million while Tuberville, who defeated former Sen. Jeff Sessions on Tuesday for the GOP nomination, listed his cash on hand at $551,285. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

Tuberville Beats out Sessions for GOP Nomination to the US Senate

Former Auburn University head coach Tommy Tuberville handily defeated former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate seat Tuesday night in an election heavily influenced by the candidates’ relationships to President Donald Trump. According to unofficial results reported by the Alabama Secretary of State’s office, Tuberville defeated Sessions 60.74% to 39.26%. Tuberville will face Democrat Doug Jones in the Nov. 3 general election. Voting in the party primary runoffs was higher than expected. Almost 17.4% of voters statewide cast ballots in the election, which is more than those who voted in the 2014 and 2016 primary runoffs. In Jefferson County, 15.34% of voters cast ballots. About 71% of those ballots were cast in the Republican primary and about 29% in the Democratic, according to unofficial results reported by the county Board of Registrars office. Political prognosticators see the defeat as the end of Sessions’ decades-long political career, which started in 1981 with his appointment by President Ronald Reagan as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, a title he held for 12 years. Read more. See results from other races on Tuesday’s ballot.

by Sam Prickett

Results From Other Races on the July 14 Ballot

In addition to the Senate race, one other statewide race was on Tuesday’s GOP ballot. In the race for the Republican nomination to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2, Beth Kellum beat out Will Smith 55.66% to 44.34%. On Jefferson County’s Democratic ballot, Eyrika Parker defeated former state Rep. Rod Scott in the race

by BirminghamWatch

2020 Primary Runoff Election Results

The Associated Press has called the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate seat for Tommy Tuberville. With more than two-thirds of precincts reporting, Tuberville appeared to lead former Sen. Jeff Sessions by about 62% to 38%, according to numbers the New York Times is reporting from AP, which had a network of reporters at the polls Tuesday evening. Beth Kellum also was leading in the race to retain the nomination to her seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals, 55% to Will Smith’s 45%.

by BirminghamWatch