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The Alabama Department of Corrections has confirmed the death of an incarcerated man at Limestone County Correctional facility, according to a statement provided on Friday.
Ariene Kimbrough, a 35-year-old incarcerated man at the Limestone County facility, was the victim of an apparent “inmate-on-inmate” assault, according to a spokesperson for the department. Kimbrough was discovered in his cell on Jan. 4.
No further information on the circumstances surrounding the death has been released by the ADOC, with the department’s Law Enforcement Services Division investigating the incident.
The last homicide at Limestone Correctional facility was in October, when Kenyon Arrington, a 34-year-old incarcerated man at the facility, was assaulted by another incarcerated man on Oct. 15. Arrington was taken to the health care unit within the facility where “he became unresponsive,” and died later that day of his injuries, a department spokesperson said at the time.
Recently, at least five individuals were the victims or involved in inmate-on-inmate assaults over a two-day period span Monday and Tuesday of last week at St. Clair County Correctional Facility.
No fatalities have yet been confirmed from the assaults, but at least two individuals were treated at area hospitals for injuries.
The critical lack of correctional staff at each of the department’s facilities is directly leading to increased levels of violence and death among the state’s incarcerated population.
A complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in late 2020, directly before the Justice Department’s lawsuit with the state and ADOC was filed, alleges that the state’s failure to protect incarcerated individuals from “inmate-on-inmate” assaults amounts to a violation of their Eighth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.
