Alabama Department of Corrections hopes new officers can improve prison conditions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ( WIAT ) — The Alabama Department of Corrections claims its new class of recruits will help improve safety. However, questions remain about the conditions of the state’s prisons.

On Thursday, 54 officers graduated after 10 weeks of training and will soon be assigned to work in various prisons across Alabama. There are nearly 2,000 correctional officers statewide.

Concerns about state penitentiaries’ conditions have heightened after three inmates were found dead inside Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer this month.

ADOC Commissioner John Hamm believes the solution to the issue involves employing more officers to keep watch.

“The more we have, the better off we’ll be in being able to reduce any of the violence, contraband — any of those things that go on inside a prison,” Hamm said.

Graduate Kyle Shaffern is set to work at Donaldson Correctional Facility. He says he will supervise, protect and care for inmates while making sure they comply with orders.

“These last ten weeks have prepared me a lot,” Shaffern said. “From getting up at five in the morning to doing PT to prepare us for these 12-hour shifts back at the camps.”

Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) serves on the Joint Legislative Prison Committee. He said lawmakers are pushing to renovate facilities, while a new one is already under construction.

“We’re talking about not just inmates and their safety. We’re talking about our people who go to work for us, who have families that want to go back home everyday,” Singleton said. “We want to make sure that they’re safe.”

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