Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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Feb. 28
The Tuscaloosa News on prison violence in Alabama:
It can be hard to muster sympathy for prisoners, particularly when the focus is on what they’ve done to place themselves behind bars.
The truth is, especially in Alabama, we’ve all but foregone the pretense of rehabilitation being a primary function of our prison system. The reason we, as a society, fund prisons is less about repairing broken human beings and turning them into productive members of society than it is about locking someone away so that society can be protected. And there is the unsavory, but very real, aspect of exacting a level of vengeance on behalf of the victims of crime.
But not every person who has landed behind bars deserves to be treated like an animal. And we as a society owe them a level of human dignity, regardless of whether or not they deserve such treatment. If we fail to adhere to at least a minimal level of treatment even for the most heinous of criminals, we, as a society, are no better than them.
Three inmates have been slain in Alabama prisons in the past two weeks. Especially after hearing about the details of their crimes, it is easy to flippantly brush off their killings. But we have to remember that a prison sentence shouldn’t be the same as a death sentence.
The rash of inmate-on-inmate assaults and killings is the result of overcrowded and understaffed conditions. Another result of those conditions is the danger prison staffers must face each day.
According to Alabama Department of Corrections statistics, there were 195 assaults with serious injury during the last fiscal year in state prisons.
Anyone who tells you that prisoners in Alabama are being coddled in country club-type settings has never been to a prison here.
We are well below a reasonable minimum standard in our prisons. Alabama’s prison system is broken. There is the looming threat that the federal government is going to step in and force an untenable situation that will cost the state’s taxpayers a great deal of money. If the federal government does step in, there is also the likelihood that it will force the state to release convicts before their sentences are complete. That’s exactly what happened in 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the overcrowding situation in California amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.” The court forced the state to reduce its overall population by releasing about 33,000 inmates. That scenario is likely in Alabama if we don’t act quickly to correct the problem.
The state Legislature is considering Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposal to construct new prisons and close older ones. There are many unanswered questions about Bentley’s $800 million plan. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the project Wednesday.
We remain unconvinced that the governor’s $800 million plan is the answer, but we’re certain that the Legislature better determine how to proceed quickly.
Online:
https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
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Feb. 26
The TimesDaily on Gov. Bentley:
Alabama is suffering a crisis of leadership, or more to the point, a lack of leadership.
Gov. Robert Bentley, through his own actions, is stranded on a political island with no hope of rescue. The questionable handling of his office and his apparent peccadilloes with a former adviser have rendered him, at best, ineffective. He has no open support among legislators, and the public has little sympathy for him.
Some lawmakers want to launch impeachment procedures against Bentley, but there is no clear precedent from which to begin the process.
In the Legislature, the leadership crisis is just as severe. House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, resigned last week after losing the confidence of many of his fellow Republicans. Former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, also a Republican, was jailed a year ago after being convicted of felony ethics violations.
As usual, the General Fund doesn’t have enough money to adequately fund state services. Most of the tax money generated in Alabama is from sales and use, and income taxes. Most of that money is earmarked for education.
Alabama has the lowest property taxes in the nation, thanks to limitations built into the 1901 constitution, and thanks to a complete lack of intestinal fortitude on the part of lawmakers. Until property taxes are raised to reasonable levels, funding crises will remain the norm in state government.
Now, Bentley proposes borrowing $800 million to build four new prisons and close existing prisons in a misguided effort to relieve chronic overcrowding. At best, his plan would reduce prison populations to 125 percent of capacity instead of the current 175 percent. That doesn’t solve the problem, and the plan doesn’t offer clear and sustainable ways to repay the debt without further crippling the General Fund.
The governor also wants to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries. That is a commendable goal because the working poor pay an unfair share of the tax burden just to feed their families.
The problem, however, is that Bentley does not want to increase taxes elsewhere to replace the lost revenue. The 4-percent state sales tax on groceries generates about $350 million a year, which is earmarked for the Education Trust Fund. Public schools are already under assault from tax credits for tuition to private schools. Another bite from the school budget is not sustainable.
Alabamians can expect to see no changes in government or its services for now. The only hope of change will come through the ballot box in the next election.
Online:
https://www.timesdaily.com/
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Feb. 26
The Gadsden Times on letting juries decide whether to give a capital sentence:
Imagine you’re an Alabama judge - don your robe, grab your gavel and go sit in the big chair at the bench.
You’ve presided over a trial in which a defendant has been convicted in a particularly heinous capital murder case. The same jury that rendered that verdict also has given its recommendation for the defendant’s punishment: life in prison without parole.
Alone among your peers in the U.S. judiciary, you can accept that recommendation or send the defendant to death row. It’s your call.
You also must, to keep your job, regularly face the voters in a state whose ballot-casters are particularly cranky about crime. They generally want to lock criminals up and not just throw away the key but grind it into dust (confirmed by our bulging prisons), and are as adamant as the Red Queen in “Alice in Wonderland” about capital punishment.
What’s going to be your motivation: justice or self-preservation?
Since 1976, according to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama judges have rejected a jury’s recommendation for life without parole in 112 capital cases, and in all but 11 have levied death sentences. The last defendant put to death in Alabama had his sentence changed by a judge after the jury voted to send him to prison for life.
We can’t climb into those judges’ heads, past or present, and know exactly what they were thinking. They may sincerely have believed the defendants in question deserved society’s ultimate penalty for their actions.
However, the question of death sentences being handed down for political reasons or to satisfy public opinion simply can’t be erased from this scenario. That has fueled a push in the Legislature to take away judges’ option to reject a jury’s sentencing recommendation.
The Senate overwhelmingly - the margin was 30-1 - passed a bill to do that. A companion bill has cleared a House committee. We hope the Legislature puts together a consensus bill that becomes law.
Support for the change is bipartisan - this isn’t a Democratic vs. Republican or liberal vs. conservative situation.
We doubt anyone would speak on the record, but the Senate bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, said judges he’s spoken to have almost universally told him (a.) they wish the override option would go away and (b.) they have felt public and political pressure to impose death sentences.
We’re sure there will be shrieks about being “soft on crime.” We don’t see how that’s the case when defendants have been convicted and the only question is their punishment. Given what we said about the mood toward criminals in this state, we expect Alabama juries to continue recommending a lot of death sentences.
The thing is, those sentences, just like the resolution of guilt vs. innocence, will be decided by the defendant’s peers, not by one individual with people breathing down his or her neck.
Online:
https://www.gadsdentimes.com/
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