MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The state of Alabama told a federal judge that it is optimistic that it can adequately staff state prisons by a 2022 deadline despite slow progress in hiring. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson asked the state to explain how it planned to meet the court order to add about 2,000 officers in the next two years….
A federal judge is questioning Alabama’s requirement for a transgender person to undergo full gender reassignment surgery to change the sex on their driver’s license. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson held a Tuesday hearing in the lawsuit filed by three transgender individuals challenging the requirement as unconstitutional. Thompson declined to issue an immediate order and will rule later if the…
Attorneys for inmates are asking a federal judge to find the Alabama prison system in contempt of a court order to boost prison mental health staffing. Lawyers wrote in a Thursday motion that the Department of Corrections is “woefully short” of required staffing levels. Attorneys for inmates wrote that a court order requires 263 full time equivalent mental-health positions. The…
An unheralded pioneer of the civil rights movement is being recognized in his native Alabama. A ceremony will be held May 18 honoring 80-year-old Bruce Carver Boynton of Selma. Boynton is a black man who was arrested for sitting in the whites-only section of a bus station restaurant in 1958. His conviction and appeal resulted in an important Supreme Court…
Alabama lawmakers have approved an $85 million increase for the state’s prison system as they try to comply with a federal court order to improve mental health care for inmates. The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved $30 million for the Department of Corrections before September and a $55 million boost in next year’s general fund budget. U.S. District Judge…
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – A federal judge has permanently struck down an Alabama law that required abortion doctors to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson entered the order Friday declaring the state abortion law, which had previously blocked the state from enforcing, as unconstitutional. Thompson says the law would make it impossible for a…
