SPLC President Responds to ADOC’s Statement on Suicide Crisis

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – This statement by Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is in response to a Friday evening press release by the Alabama Department of Corrections and Commissioner Jeff Dunn:
 
“As the Court recognized in June 2017, this is an ADOC-created crisis that necessitates a comprehensive solution. The fact that ADOC refuses to take responsibility for its own grossly incompetent treatment of the prisoners under its care and 13 deaths is shocking and reprehensible. Instead of solving the problem, ADOC is blaming the messenger. 
 
“This response gives us no confidence they will be able to deal in the short term with a mental health crisis or in the long term with creating a prison system that supervises and rehabilitates Alabamians. Most of all, this response saddens us - that people across the state will continue to be fearful of the treatment their family members will receive in ADOC prisons tonight and beyond.”