Donaldson Correctional Facility
The William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison facility operated by the Alabama Department of Corrections and located near the Warrior River, west of Port Birmingham in western Jefferson County. It is named for Bill Donaldson, a prison guard who was stabbed to death by an inmate on January 12, 1990.
The prison was constructed in 1982 as the West Jefferson Correctional Facility with dormitories for 700 minimum and medium-security inmates. The addition of a 300-inmate segregation unit along with other expansion projects have brought the total inmate capacity to 1,492. As of January 2009 the actual inmate population is 1,545, of which about a third are serving life sentences without parole. Donaldson can house up to 24 death row inmates whose appeals are being brought in the Birmingham judicial area. They are transfered to the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore for execution.
Donaldson's warden is Kenneth Jones, who succeeded Stephen Bullard in 2005. Bullard's dismissal came after he made public his criticisms of employee conditions at the prison. At the same time the prison was routinely violating restrictions on the amount of sewage it released into Big Branch Creek, a tributary of the Warrior River. Black Warrior Riverkeeper filed suit under the federal Clean Water Act, but that filing was quickly superseded by charges from the Alabama Attorney General, which had the effect of protecting the Department of Corrections from civil damages. After negotiations, the prison contracted with NOVUS utilities to upgrade their treatment facilities.
In February 2009, the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta filed a federal lawsuit against Donaldson. The suit claims overcrowding that results in three inmates "crammed into cells that were designed for two," ceiling leaks when it rains and overflowing toilets that "back up into adjoining cells." The suit names Governor Bob Riley, Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen and Donaldson Warden Gary Hetzel as defendants. The Alabama Correctional Organization, an employees group for correctional officers, supports the lawsuit.
References
- Gordon, Tom (February 26, 2009) "Lawsuit alleges violence, chaos and corruption at west Jefferson prison." Birmingham News
- Gordon, Tom (January 12, 2010) "Alabama prison officials pay tribute to slain corrections officer on 20th anniversary of his death." Birmingham News
External links
- Donaldson Correctional Facility profile at www.doc.al.us