Families describe assaults and deaths behind bars during hearing on Alabama prison conditions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Deandre Roney told officials at the Alabama prison he was incarcerated at that he feared for his life because another inmate had been threatening him, his sister said. On June 8, months away from his scheduled release date, the 39-year-old was stabbed to death.

Money the family had saved to help him restart his life out of prison was instead used to bury him, family members said.

“We just want justice and answers,” Chante Roney, his sister, told a committee of state lawmakers during a Wednesday meeting on prison conditions.

Family members of people incarcerated in Alabama prisons packed the public hearing held by the Joint Legislative Prison Committee, a panel of lawmakers focused on prison oversight. Some wearing T-shirts with photos of their loved ones, family members described assaults, rapes, extortions, deaths and rampant drug availability and overdoses behind bars. They also expressed frustration over the state's lack of progress in improving conditions.

The Alabama prison system has long come under criticism for high rates of violence, crowding and chronic understaffing. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2020 against Alabama arguing that conditions in the prison system — which the Justice Department called one of the most understaffed and violent in the country — are so poor that they violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

One woman described how her son was beaten in a 2016 prison riot. Other speakers described paying thousands in extortion payments to other inmates threatening to harm their loved one. At least four speakers described how their family members died in Alabama prisons.

Chante Roney said her brother told prison staff at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility about his fears that he would be attacked. On the day he died, he called his family and asked them to try to speak with someone in charge so he could be moved.

“Two hours later, we received a phone call that my brother was stabbed in his head and in his back and that he was left outside,” Chante Roney said. “I feel DOC should have done more to protect him. Now, all we have is memories, and no answers and broken hearts."

Betty Martin said her son Derrek Martin was beaten to death at Elmore Correctional Facility in December 2023. While he was still serving his 20-year sentence for robbery, Betty Martin regularly received pictures of her son's injuries from near daily beatings, sent to her by other prisoners using contraband cellphones.

“He said to me, ‘I’m sending these pictures to you because one day you might need them. They’re going to kill me in here,’” Betty Martin said after the hearing.

She contacted the facility numerous times to request that her son be transferred to protective custody but was told that those facilities were full. In December, Betty Martin received the call she had been dreading. Her son was assaulted by another inmate and pronounced dead shortly after.

Chase Mathis told prison officials that he was afraid for his life, his father said. He died June 4, the day after being moved to another prison. His father, Tim Mathis, said he wants answers. He has concerns that his son might have been killed with a lethal dose of drugs administered against his will. His son was sent to prison after being convicted of manslaughter when his friend was killed in a car accident when Chase Mathis was driving while intoxicated.

“We had no idea that would turn into a death sentence,” Tim Mathis said.

Eddie Burkhalter, a researcher at nonprofit law and justice center Alabama Appleseed, said the prison system last year had a record 325 deaths including at least 10 homicides.

The Alabama Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The Alabama prison system has been under heightened federal scrutiny for several years. A federal judge ruled in 2017 that mental health care of state inmates is “horrendously inadequate." The Alabama Department of Corrections, facing a shortage of staff, raised officer pay in an effort to recruit and maintain more correctional officers. Rep. Chris England, a committee member and frequent critic of the prison system and parole board, said conditions remain unacceptable.

Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, who is not a member of the committee, addressed the panel at the end of the meeting. She urged her coworkers to make prisons a priority.

“We have lost so many lives in our state prisons that it is unconscionable," Figures, said. “And it is truly unacceptable.”