Last year, I scraped some @ALCorrections data from their public PDFs, because they wanted over $3000.00 for the excel versions.

Here is some initial analysis from that data to pair with the DOJ's lawsuit against the department. TLDR: It's awful. Thread: https://www.scribd.com/document/487562454/Department-of-Justice-Lawsuit-Against-Alabama-Department-of-Corrections#from_embed
Department of Justice Lawsuit Against Alabama Department of Corrections

The DOJ alleges unconstitutional conditions in Alabama's prisons for men.

https://www.scribd.com/document/487562454/Department-of-Justice-Lawsuit-Against-Alabama-Department-of-Corrections#from_embed
Between 2010 and 2018, the prison population declined by over 5,000 people (20.9%). Yet, recorded assaults in AL prisons rose 410% from 418 to 2,132. Recorded deaths rose 76.6% from 77 to 136.
Medium security facilities hold the most individuals. They are also extremely overcrowded. Yet, as the medium security prison population declined from 2010-2018, the number of assaults skyrocketed from 239 incidents to 1,409.
Medium security facilities hold the most individuals. They are also extremely overcrowded. Yet, as the medium security prison population declined from 2010-2018, the number of assaults skyrocketed from 239 incidents to 1,409.
Medium security facilities hold the most individuals. They are also extremely overcrowded. Yet, as the medium security prison population declined from 2010-2018, the number of assaults skyrocketed from 239 incidents to 1,409.
Incidents of assault are not confined to just one facility. Across close and medium facilities in 2018 the number of assaults per person were often near or above 1 incident for every 5 people!
Incidents of assault are not confined to just one facility. Across close and medium facilities in 2018 the number of assaults per person were often near or above 1 incident for every 5 people!
Incidents of assault are not confined to just one facility. Across close and medium facilities in 2018 the number of assaults per person were often near or above 1 incident for every 5 people!
With the exception of Draper which closed in 2018, every medium security AL prison saw a substantial increase in assaults between 2010 and 2018.

Assaults in close security prisons are not limited to one facility either. The failure to protect people from violence is systemic.
With the exception of Draper which closed in 2018, every medium security AL prison saw a substantial increase in assaults between 2010 and 2018.Assaults in close security prisons are not limited to one facility either. The failure to protect people from violence is systemic.
With the exception of Draper which closed in 2018, every medium security AL prison saw a substantial increase in assaults between 2010 and 2018.Assaults in close security prisons are not limited to one facility either. The failure to protect people from violence is systemic.
Though the terms close and medium security facility might imply a degree of security they do not. Deaths, like assaults, are concentrated in medium and close security facilities.
I started this project after two separate & short convos with @JoyceWhiteVance and @WarOnDumb.

So, thank you to them both for helping me figure out what to do when a government agency stonewalls over public data. And to the others that have seen this project along the way.
Public data is public. It should be free. It is necessary for government accountability.

Also, here's Kyle's article from when I started. To follow up, I'm going to update the above project with the '19 & '20 info and make the data publicly available. https://www.al.com/news/2019/08/hey-alabama-public-data-are-public-documents-too.html
Whitmire: Public data are public documents, too

When a researcher asked the Department of Corrections for some spreadsheets, they asked him for thousands of dollars, first.

https://www.al.com/news/2019/08/hey-alabama-public-data-are-public-documents-too.html
You can follow @DavidCSimpson.
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