EJI received multiple reports that Brelin McAlpine, 26, was killed at Limestone Correctional Facility in Harvest, Alabama, on the morning of Saturday, June 28. According to the reports, Mr. McAlpine was stabbed in a dorm.
In the last three years there have been at least six reported homicides at Limestone, including three homicides in the past four months. In addition to Mr. McAlpine, Jody Potts, 58, was killed on May 6, 2021; Kenyon Arrington, 34, was killed on October 15, 2022; Ariene Kimbrough, 35, was killed on January 4, 2023; Taurus White, 28, was killed on March 5, 2024; and Samuel Ward, 39, was killed on March 23, 2024.
Observers believe this corresponds directly to institutional leadership and staff management and supervision.
Numerous reports received by EJI have indicated that a surge of violence at Limestone has been seen, with numerous other serious but nonfatal assaults. Since March, EJI has received more than a dozen reports of stabbings and other assaults at Limestone, where many victims required transport to free-world hospitals.
At the same time, Limestone’s correctional leadership has been in turmoil, with the last three head wardens removed or forced to retire due to misconduct. On April 19, 2024, Limestone head warden Chadwick Crabtree and his wife, former correctional officer Melissa Crabtree, were arrested and charged with manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance.
Mr. Crabtree was the third successive head warden at Limestone to be removed after allegations of misconduct. Both his immediate predecessor, Deborah Toney, and Ms. Toney’s predecessor, Dewayne Estes, retired after being placed on mandatory leave by the Alabama Department of Corrections commissioner “due to the nature of the allegations against [them].”
Numerous officers at Limestone have also been charged in the past 18 months with bribery, corruption, and assault of incarcerated people. In several cases, the officers charged remain employed by the ADOC.
Since 2019, EJI has identified at least 82 ADOC prison employees who, according to public records, have been arrested and charged in federal or state court with contraband, corruption, or assault inside Alabama’s prisons. Twenty-one of those were correctional supervisors at the rank of sergeant or higher.