For this report, the SPLC created a dataset of people incarcerated in the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) age 65 and older as of March 23, 2020. The information was scraped from the agency’s website and put into a dataset that included each individual’s name, age, custody information and demographic information typically displayed on ADOC’s website.
The SPLC used each person's Alabama Institutional Serial Number (AIS) to verify each person in the dataset was still incarcerated, and to add the most recent information about the ADOC facility each person was incarcerated in as of March 23, 2020. The AIS was also used to input the person’s most recent prison sentence as documented on ADOC’s website. If there were concurrent or consecutive sentences, the SPLC used the sentence with the longest term documented to use as the controlling sentence in the dataset. This process left 1,154 total individuals age 65 and older still incarcerated as of March 23, 2020.
To get an estimate of how long each individual had served in ADOC custody, the SPLC pulled the admit date for each most recent offense documented. We then subtracted that date from March 23, 2020 and created a column for the number of years each individual had served. As a caveat, this calculation does not include any documented days that person may have served in jail as jail credit, meaning the actual time served for some individuals could be longer.
Data Columns and Definitions
AIS – Alabama Institutional Serial Number
First name – Person’s first name
Last name – Person’s last name
Age – Age at time of data collection
Most recent offense – The offense documented by ADOC for the person’s most recent prison sentence. If there were concurrent or consecutive sentences, the SPLC used the sentence with the longest term documented to use as the controlling sentence.
Single offense – If the offense is the only documented offense in ADOC’s history
Violent offenses – If a person has any prior prison terms documented by ADOC that fall under ADOC’s definition of a violent offense
Offense admit date – The date a person was admitted into ADOC custody that corresponds with most recent offense documented.
Time served years – Total number of years a person has served of their sentence since their documented offense admit date from March 23, 2020.
Total term – Total number of years, months and days a person was sentenced to serve in ADOC custody.
Institution – Current facility a person is incarcerated in as of March 23, 2020.
DOB – Person’s date of birth year
Gender – A person’s gender as documented by ADOC
Race – A person’s race as documented by ADOC
Weight – A person’s weight
Height – A person’s height
Custody – A person’s current custody as defined by ADOC
Special sentence code – If a person is serving a “LW” (life without parole), “LP” (life with parole), “BP” (barred from parole), “LB” (life and barred from parole), or “DR” (Death Row), ADOC gives that person a special sentencing code.
Download the data set here.
Return to the main Alabama prisons hold more than 1,100 older people at greater COVID-19 risk story here.
