A decade after determining that Alabama had failed to protect women incarcerated at Julia Tutwiler Prison from sexual abuse and harassment, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to reduce its oversight of the facility, Mike Cason of Alabama news site AL.com reported Sept. 27.
On Thursday, the DOJ, along with the state, filed a joint motion requesting a federal court to end 38 of the 44 provisions outlined in a consent decree that was implemented in May 2015.
The consent decree required measures to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and harassment, ensuring the women at Tutwiler were provided a safe and secure environment as mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
Court-appointed monitors have reported that the Alabama Department of Corrections has met nearly all of the decree’s requirements at Tutwiler over the past six years.
“Due to the State’s sustained substantial compliance with the agreed-upon provisions of the Consent Decree, continued cooperation, and important reforms at Tutwiler over the course of this action, the Parties respectfully move this Court to terminate” most of the decree’s provisions, the attorneys wrote in the motion.
According to the most recent monitor’s report on September 12, Tutwiler was found to be in compliance with all 44 provisions of the consent decree.
“I am thankful for the men and women who are dedicated to our mission at Tutwiler,” Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said in a press release. “This joint motion to terminate most of the requirements on this consent decree is a credit to our entire team and their dedication to our department and our state. We look forward to ending all court oversight of Tutwiler in the near future.”
However, provisions related to staffing levels and a staffing plan for the safe operation of the prison will remain in effect.
In January 2014, the DOJ notified then-Gov. Robert Bentley in a 36-page letter that its investigation had concluded conditions at Tutwiler violated the Constitution, citing “a history of unabated staff-on-prisoner sexual abuses and harassment.”
The letter detailed how prisoners lived in “a sexualized environment” with frequent and overt sexual misconduct, including “abusive sexual contact between staff and prisoners; sexualized activity, including a strip show condoned by staff; profane and unprofessional sexualized language and harassment; and deliberate cross-gender viewing of prisoners showering, urinating, and defecating.”
The consent decree mandated “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse and harassment and compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), enacted by Congress in 2003.
The decree also required prison staff to be trained to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse reports; to protect inmates from retaliation when they report abuse; and to screen new inmates for risk factors related to sexual abuse. Additionally, it mandated that inmates be informed of their right to be free from sexual abuse and harassment and know how to report instances of such abuse.
Policies respecting the rights of lesbian, gay, and transgender inmates and ensuring a safe and respectful environment for them were also included.
The decree further required Tutwiler to maintain a “state of the art” camera system with strategically placed cameras to maximize supervision while respecting the privacy of the women incarcerated there.
The DOJ’s investigation at Tutwiler followed a 2012 report from the Equal Justice Initiative, which exposed widespread sexual abuse and harassment by male security staff. Tutwiler Prison has had a sordid history for several decades, wrote Kelsey Stein in a 2016 timeline for AL.com.
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