Legislative Panel Discusses Prison Violence in Alabama

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By CBS-8 News

Story Created: Jun 20, 2012 at 6:21 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jun 20, 2012 at 6:36 PM CDT

Alabama Prisons Commissioner Kim Thomas says he has requested technical assistance from the National Institution of Corrections as his staff investigates allegations of sexual abuse of female prisoners.
   
Commissioner Kim Thomas told members of the Legislature's Joint Prison Oversight Committee Wednesday that the assistance could come in the form of an audit. The commissioner's remarks come after a prisoner's rights group asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into allegations that guards at Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka had sexually abused inmates incarcerated there.
   
The complaint was filed by the Equal Justice Initiative.
   
Thomas also told committee members he was looking into reports of increased "inmate on inmate" violence in Alabama's prisons.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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