Following EJI reports on continuing problems at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama, the Alabama Department of Corrections has replaced longtime warden Frank Albright effective November 1.
EJI filed a complaint in May with the U.S. Justice Department calling for a swift and thorough federal investigation into widespread sexual abuse of women prisoners by male guards at Tutwiler. In interviews with more than 50 women incarcerated at Tutwiler, EJI had uncovered evidence of frequent and severe officer-on-inmate sexual violence. The Department of Justice has now launched a formal investigation into conditions at Tutwiler.
EJI reported at an October 5 meeting of the Alabama Commission on Girls and Women in the Criminal Justice System, which includes state legislators and agency directors, that problems were continuing at Tutwiler. EJI reported that DOC had made no changes in leadership at the prison and suggested that the legislature should demand substantive changes in the leadership at Tutwiler prison.
On November 5, DOC Commissioner Kim Thomas confirmed to reporters that Tutwiler warden Frank Albright has been reassigned to Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery. Effective November 1, Bobby Barrett has replaced Albright as warden at Tutwiler. Barrett was previously warden of Kilby Correctional Facility.