New Appleseed Report

Newest Updates

March 12, 2026/by Carla Crowder

Alabama Appleseed Applauds Agreement for a Prison Oversight Pilot Program

Years of relentless advocacy by families of incarcerated Alabamians…

March 11, 2026/by Carla Crowder

Thirty-two-year old Marvin Taylor was beaten inside Ventress prison. So why does his death certificate say he died of natural causes?

March 1, 2026/by Carla Crowder

SB 316, Alabama’s Prison Oversight Bill, Has Been Filed. Now Let’s Get It Passed.

February 25, 2026/by Carla Crowder

Appleseed’s Callie Greer receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Crime Survivors Speak

February 23, 2026/by Carla Crowder

Remembering three Appleseed clients who died waiting for a chance at freedom

Alabama Appleseed works to improve the justice system on behalf of all Alabamians. We seek justice for individuals by providing post-conviction and parole representation for people serving extreme sentences under outdated laws, and we advocate for common-sense reforms to address the unfairness, waste, and corruption that have turned Alabama’s prison system into one of the worst in the United States.

Research, coalition building, policy advocacy and legal services.

Economic justice and the criminalization of poverty

Mass incarceration and Alabama’s chronically unconstitutional prisons

Racial justice and systemic racism in laws and policies

Unaccountable government and policing for profit

Providing Second Chances. Changing Systems.

Alabama’s prison system is overwhelmed and often unjust, and many people are serving extreme sentences under outdated laws without fair access to legal help.

We exist to make sure people are seen, heard, and represented. Through post-conviction and parole advocacy, we fight for second chances and for a system that treats families with dignity and respect. We believe justice should include mercy, fairness, and hope.

Let’s invest in people, not prisons. Let’s fight poverty, not create it. Let’s achieve justice and equity for all Alabamians.

Transformative change is possible in Alabama. Here’s how we do it.

We develop solutions and advocate for criminal justice reform at the Alabama Legislature.

Recent statewide wins include:

SB322 creating a family services unit and more accountability at the Alabama Department of Corrections. Families with incarcerated loved ones now have staff dedicated to meeting their needs. PASSED IN 2024.
SB154 ending Alabama’s practice of automatically suspending people’s driver’s licenses for missing a single payment or court hearing. This law makes life easier for more than 170,000 Alabamians who had their license suspended for debt-related reasons. PASSED IN 2023.
HB95 giving people leaving prison a grace period of 180 days post-release before they must begin to pay back court-imposed fines and fees. Alabama is now the second southern state with such a law. PASSED IN 2022.

Our policy expertise also creates sweeping change at the local level.

The Jefferson County Equitable Fines and Fees (JEFF) Project partners with data scientists to remit court fines and fees on a large scale in Alabama’s largest county and identify ways to improve the fair administration of justice. Alongside judges and other elected officials, Appleseed and our partners are addressing long-standing unfair and inequitable practices and sharing our success with new jurisdictions.
A City of Montgomery executive order forgiving old municipal traffic and marijuana court debt was signed in February 2024, thanks to our research and advocacy.
Appleseed helped launch the Birmingham Re-entry Alliance, an innovative partnership of nonprofit and faith groups alongside the office of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, to provide holistic re-entry services to people returning to Birmingham from Alabama prisons. Now in its second year, the Alliance has added new partners, new services, and new hope to people returning to the uncertainty of life after incarceration.

We work to free Alabamians trapped by excessive sentences then provide dedicated reentry support.

We have won the release of more than 20 men sentenced to die in prison for crimes where no one was physically injured, including Alvin Kennard, Ronald McKeithen, Motis Wright, Alonzo Hurth, Michael Schumacher, Joe Bennett, Robert Cheeks, Willie Ingram, Lee Davis, Larry Garrett, John Coleman, Bruce Pearson, Ronnie Peoples, James “Honkytonk” Jones, Johnny Crawford, Jerry Boatwright and Carl Green.
We have won parole grants for numerous clients serving life sentences and assisted others in obtaining pardons, including Bennie Haggins.
We created a re-entry program that provides housing support, case management, connections employment, peer support, and extensive wraparound services to people who have spent decades in prison. Our clients range in age from 43 to 92. They are truck drivers, auto workers, grandfathers, college students, church volunteers, and artists. Combined, they spent more than 1,000 years incarcerated.

We listen to and support Alabamians directly impacted by harsh laws and broken systems.

Appleseed’s research and advocacy staff relies on surveys and narratives of Alabamians directly impacted by the broken systems we are striving to reform. We correspond with hundreds of incarcerated people and their families, lift up their stories, and connect them with advocacy opportunities and elected officials.
We know that many survivors of crime are not being served by current responses to violence. Alongside survivors, we are working toward solutions that repair rather than perpetuate harm, as presented in our Afterward report.