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Abstract: 

A recent complaint filed against the Alabama Department of Corrections by the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests that despite endless litigation and scathing reports, Alabama appears to continue to function below constitutionally accepted norms. It has been nearly fifteen years since the author convened a team of clinical experts to evaluate the care of mentally disordered inmates in seven Alabama prisons, as the result a conditions case, Bradley v. Hightower. The final report, outlined here, concluded that “ADOC fails to provide even minimally adequate mental health care for its inmates with serious mental illness” but failed to back up the report with strong enforcement. The new SPLC complaint raises many of the same issues.

Keywords: Bradley v. Hightower, 92-cv-70-N (M.D. Ala. 1992); Alabama Disability Advocates

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.