Entries by Carla Crowder

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Alabama Appleseed Files Amicus Brief in U.S. Supreme Court Case Arguing the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause Should Rein In Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuses

On Tuesday, Alabama Appleseed joined a diverse set of twelve organizations asking the U.S. Supreme Court to find that the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause applies to the states. The case is Timbs v. Indiana. Mr. Timbs was arrested during an undercover drug enforcement operation, pled guilty, paid approximately $1,200 in fees, and was sentenced […]

September 12, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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Civil Rights Groups Applaud Governor Ivey’s Action to Stop Sheriffs from Personally Profiting from Taxpayer Funded Jail Food Money

In response to Governor Kay Ivey’s announcement today that the Alabama Comptroller will now require sheriffs to sign an affidavit swearing that they will use jail food money for jail food, the Southern Center for Human Rights and Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice have released the following statements: The following statement can be […]

August 17, 2018 /0 Comments/by

Dr. Wayne Flynt to Receive Alabama Appleseed’s 2018 Brewer/Torbert Public Service Award

Dr. Wayne Flynt, Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Auburn University, will receive the 2018 Brewer/Torbert Public Service Award. First awarded in 2006, the award is given annually by Alabama Appleseed to an individual in Alabama who has demonstrated a substantial commitment to public service and the improvement of the lives of Alabamians. […]

July 17, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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Governor Kay Ivey’s Memos Do Not Yet Prevent Alabama Sheriffs From Pocketing Jail Food Funds

In two memos sent yesterday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced that sheriffs may no longer personally profit from a very small portion of jail food funds: those state funds allocated for services in preparing and serving food to people in their jails. Contrary to media reports, these memos do not yet fully fix the problem […]

July 11, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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Civil Legal Aid Funding is Not an Expense, it’s an Investment

by Phil Ensler, Policy Counsel  Victims of domestic violence, tenants facing eviction, and veterans seeking their benefits are among the thousands of low-income Alabamians who receive free legal assistance from civil legal aid attorneys because they cannot afford to hire their own attorneys. Despite the essential need for these services, Alabama is one of only […]

June 22, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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“How is this not illegal?”

by Leah Nelson, researcher and Dana Sweeney, organizer Payday industry supporters have often claimed that “neither the general public nor the so called ‘poor’ [are] clamoring” for payday lending reform in Alabama. Actual borrowers might beg to differ. Between October 2016 and September 2017, the State Banking Department reported that nearly 215,000 Alabamians took out […]

June 19, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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Introducing Alexis Nail – 2018 Summer Intern

My name is Alexis Nail and I am from Gadsden, Alabama and an upcoming junior at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. I am a major in Political Science with a minor in Human Rights and Conflict Studies. I am currently working towards receiving a distinction in Leadership Studies on my diploma, and I plan to […]

June 15, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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Efforts to Expand Alabama’s Broken Death Penalty System Defeated!

by Leah Nelson, Researcher  In 1972’s Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that death penalty schemes that led to arbitrary results – for instance, those that allowed similar offenses committed by similar individuals to lead to different sentences – were unconstitutional. The result was a de facto moratorium on the death penalty nationwide, […]

May 29, 2018 /0 Comments/by