Alabama state officials defend Alabama prison practices amid labor exploitation claims

An inmate in the custody of the Department of Corrections. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Alabama state officials argued in a motion Monday that inmates and civil rights groups accusing the Department of Corrections of employing slave labor did not pursue all available administrative channels and improperly split their claims across multiple lawsuits.

In a motion in support of a state motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the officials, including Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall said that the plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies as required under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), meaning inmates must try to resolve their complaints through the prison’s grievance procedures before legal action.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit — who include currently and formerly incarcerated Alabamians, three unions representing service industry employees and the Woods Foundation, a civil rights organization — claim currently and formerly incarcerated Alabamians were coerced into labor through threats and physical restraint, disproportionately denying Black parole candidates parole than white counterparts. It also accuses public and private entities, ranging from local governments to fast food restaurants and grocery stores, of benefitting from the labor.

U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze rejected the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction last month, writing that the plaintiffs had failed to prove “racially discriminatory intent or purpose” behind a 2019 change to parole standards, or subsequent declines in parole grants, particularly for Black Alabamians in the prison system.

The state argues that the plaintiffs’ RICO claims are based on alleged violations stemming from plaintiffs’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) claims. Since the court agrees that the plaintiffs fail to state a claim under the TVPA, their RICO claim, the state argues, also fails because it is predicated on these alleged TVPA violations​.

According to the motion, the denied preliminary injunction ruling weakens the plaintiffs’ claim and supported the state’s claims of discretion given to the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in the past.

“Plaintiffs’ failure to establish causation and redressability as to Ivey, Marshall, and Hamm proves fatal to their parole-based claims against them,” the filing stated.

The filing also argued that one of the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed from the lawsuit due to improper claim splitting, as he has brought similar claims in three lawsuits.

“If this Court determines that the grievance process was available to the PLRA Plaintiffs, then all claims contained in Count IV dealing with any retaliation allegations are due to be dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as no grievance was ever filed regarding that issue by any,” the filing from the state.

The court had not ruled on the motion to dismiss as of late Wednesday morning.

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