A Guidebook to Parole in Alabama

January 23, 2020

Features and Stories

Despite horrific prison stay, a mother comes to understand her addiction

January 15, 2020

Will Tucker

When Shanna Rainey was a mother to two young children, she began using methamphetamine.

Features and Stories

‘He's losing hope.’ Sister maintains faith despite brother’s life sentence

January 07, 2020

Kathryn Casteel

Ashley Buford could not hold back the tears when she saw her brother behind a chain-link fence with barbed wire on top.

Features and Stories

He spent 36 years in prison because he stole $100 in cash and $4 in food stamps. Now Willie Parker is free.

December 17, 2019

Will Tucker

It was pouring rain the day Willie Parker left William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility after 36 years in prison.

Features and Stories

Weekend Read: Amid Alabama’s prison crisis, the voices of the people living through it should be heard

December 13, 2019

For years, Alabama’s prison system has been under a microscope. Harsh sentencing laws coupled with chronic underfunding have led to horrific conditions for people behind bars.

Features and Stories

After parole, Alabama man gets life back on track, helps others

December 03, 2019

Kathryn Casteel

Chris “Champ” Napier started speaking to students and at-risk youth about his experience in prison before he knew he would ever regain his freedom.

Features and Stories

After a hard-won sentence reduction, Huntsville man’s court debt is another obstacle to freedom

November 12, 2019

Will Tucker

Fresh out of prison after nearly 23 years, Archie “Jody” Hamlett appeared at his mother’s door in Huntsville, Ala., one fall day in 2017.

Features and Stories

Criminalizing homelessness in the heart of Dixie

November 08, 2019

Brad Bennett

Jonathan sleeps under a bridge at night or on a friend’s porch. During the day, he holds up a “homeless” sign in the grassy area near a highway exit and asks for money.