Executive Summary

Alabama’s prison system enables officers to frequently and brutally use excessive force. From the fatal beating of Steven Davis documented in The Alabama Solution to many more cases reported by the Department of Justice, the Alabama Department of Corrections has for years maintained a culture that encourages correctional officers to use force excessively. The agency then protects them by failing to properly document, investigate, or hold officers accountable when they cause harm. 

In the last five years, the cost to taxpayers for legal claims of excessive brutality against ADOC officers has increased nearly fivefold compared to the prior five years. Yet there has been no systemic change to stop these harms from continuing. Instead, taxpayers are on the hook for astronomical legal bills: since 2020, ADOC has spent more than $68 million on all litigation, including class action and individual lawsuits. 

Alabama’s General Liability Trust Fund (GLTF) covers legal expenses for state employees facing civil litigation related to their work. While the fund covers more than 29,000 employees in nearly all state agencies, since FY 2020 the Alabama Department of Corrections has accounted for more than $20 million in taxpayer spending, or 63% of all spending from the fund — more than all other state agencies combined. Many officers with large settlements against them have been promoted within ADOC, and the annual cost of civil litigation against ADOC continues to rise.

Our investigation identified a list of officers who have each been named in three or more lawsuits in the last ten years as active participants in using excessive force. At least half of the lawsuits against each of these officers have ended in paid settlements, guilty verdicts, or are in settlement talks. Each of these officers continues to work for the Department of Corrections, earning an average of $153,000 per year, including both salary and overtime. These individuals are a sign of the deeper problem: an agency whose answer to the growing culture of abuse in an overcrowded and understaffed prison system has been to protect and promote its costliest practitioners.