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Update on my March reporting for @propublica & @aldotcom: In multiple Alabama counties, ppl w/ >2 felony convictions are still being charged w/ failing to register as repeat felons & failing to present "felon ID" to police, crimes punishable by up to a year in jail & fines. 1/6
Alabama is the only state w/ state laws requiring 3-time felons to register & carry "felon ID," which even most lawyers & felons have never heard of. Ppl do end up serving real jail time for violating the laws, which are only enforced in some counties. 2/6 https://www.propublica.org/article/a-little-known-state-law-says-felons-must-carry-a-special-id-or-go-to-jail
As a result of my reporting on this arbitrary regime, some Alabama sheriffs said they'd only enforce the laws in tandem w/ other charges. But ppl are still being punished for violating them alone. And the tally mounts, w/ hundreds of people arrested on the charges since 2014. 3/6
Meanwhile, some sheriffs, like Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran, defend the laws. Cochran told me the charges are "a good stepping stone” for jailing someone suspected of other crimes, when there otherwise isn’t enough evidence to make an arrest. 4/6
This story is an important one for people like Quincy Tinsdale (left), who served a year in jail for violating felon ID laws, and Michael Kelsay, who's been repeatedly arrested, jailed & fined for doing so. I found numerous examples of new arrests on the charges since March. 5/6
There's much more detail in the full story, which traces the dark history of identification laws, details their arbitrary enforcement in Alabama, and tells the story of several people who have been caught in their web in this state. Thanks for reading. 6/6 https://www.al.com/news/2020/03/little-known-alabama-law-says-felons-must-carry-special-id-or-go-to-jail.html
