On Wednesday, the Department of Justice issued a scathing critique of the prison situation in Alabama, saying the state had violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause in the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In compliance with the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, the Justice Department added in its announcement that it had given the state written notice outlining the conditions and offered the department’s expectations in dealing with the problem.
In an appearance Thursday on Birmingham radio’s Talk 99.5, Rep. Matt Fridy (R-Montevallo) said the prison situation would be the biggest issue the legislature has to confront.
“I think the biggest issue we have coming, and you saw it yesterday with the press conference and a letter released from the Department of Justice — we have to deal with prisons,” Fridy said on Talk 99.5’s “Matt & Aunie Show.” “The Department of Justice has been very clear that the way Alabama’s prisons are run, the way our prisoners are treated violates the Eighth Amendment. It violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause. We have got to fix our prison problem.”
Fridy commended Gov. Kay Ivey for her budget proposal that included hiring 500 new Department of Corrections personnel. He added that considerations should be made to take the state’s older correctional facilities offline.
“The cost that we will save for having modern facilities will pretty much pay for taking our worst ones offline,” Fridy said, noting that newer facilities would require less staffing, which meant cost savings.
He warned if the problem weren’t dealt with, the 2019 legislative session would be a failure.
“There are a lot of things we’re going to be looking at in a way to move forward,” he added. “But to me, this will be a failure of a legislative session if we don’t finally deal with this inherited problem of how our prisoners are treated.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
