Two more people incarcerated in the Alabama Department of Corrections have been killed in prison assaults.
Michael Thomas Jones, 47, died on February 6 after suffering an assault at Limestone Correctional Facility on January 22 that left him with extensive head injuries and on life support.
According to multiple reports received by EJI, Mr. Jones was severely beaten by a group of men in the early morning hours in one of Limestone’s housing blocks, to the degree that his face appeared to be caved in. ADOC confirmed that Mr. Jones was found “unresponsive with facial injuries” and that he underwent surgery before being placed on life support. He died on February 6.
Less than a week later, Cordel Ladon Battle, 30, was stabbed to death at Donaldson Correctional Facility on February 11. According to the Jefferson County Medical Examiner, Mr. Battle “sustained sharp force injuries during an assault” at Donaldson and was pronounced dead at the prison less than an hour later.
Including Mr. Jones and Mr. Battle, at least 16 people have been killed in Alabama’s state prisons in the past 12 months. Half of these homicides have been at Limestone or Donaldson.
Alabama’s prison crisis is now in its sixth year since the Department of Justice notified the governor and the Alabama Department of Corrections that conditions within its prisons violate the Constitution. Since that time more than 80 men have been murdered—an average of more than one per month—and the rate of homicides remains as high now as it was in 2019.
Other states have implemented institutional reforms focused on leadership and supervision and seen progress. For example, Mississippi has seen a 400% reduction in the prison homicide rate between 2020 and 2023.
A lawsuit by the Justice Department against ADOC, initiated after efforts to obtain the state’s voluntary compliance to address its problems failed, remains ongoing.