The Alabama Department of Corrections accounted for 63 percent of all spending from the state’s General Liability Trust Fund – which provides liability protection for state employees when sued—according to a new analysis from the investigative team behind the Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution.
The analysis—created by “NO MORE: The Campaign for Safety and Accountability in Alabama’s Prisons”—draws from state financial data, court records, legal claims, and personnel records to examine the public cost and employment consequences of repeated excessive-force allegations involving ADOC officers.
Since 2020, ADOC has spent more than $68 million on all litigation, including class-action and individual lawsuits. More than $20 million from the General Liability Trust Fund paid for the legal defense of ADOC officers and staff and settlements with people who brought claims against the department.
Among the excessive-force lawsuits reviewed, nearly three in four resulted in paid settlements.
The analysis also identified 12 current ADOC officers who were each named as active participants in at least three lawsuits alleging excessive force. All 12 remain employed by the department, earning an average of $157,149 annually in salary and overtime.
One officer, Roderick Gadson, has cost the state $960,295 in legal defense and settlement payments to date, with 10 of 11 lawsuits claiming Gadson used excessive force ending in settlements. The documentary highlighted Gadson, who killed Steven Davis in an incident that Gadson and ADOC claimed to be an appropriate use of force. Davis’ mother sued and ADOC settled for $250,000.
Personnel records reviewed for the analysis did not reflect disciplinary action tied to incidents that led to civil litigation, including cases involving six-figure settlements or jury findings that an officer violated someone’s civil rights.
“Alabama is repeatedly and wastefully using taxpayer dollars to defend and settle serious claims without making changes to how they address officer discipline, supervision, or promotion,” said Morgan Duckett, NO MORE’s campaign manager. “Officers who are costing Alabama taxpayers millions of dollars in settlements and legal bills due to their violent acts should be terminated, not promoted. Instead, they’re earning six figures.”
The campaign is calling for multiple changes in light of the analysis:
- Require ADOC and the Department of Finance to provide the Prison Oversight Committee with quarterly reports on settled and closed lawsuits involving ADOC employees, including costs, claims, facilities and officers named.
- Incorporate settled or substantiated excessive-force claims into employment, discipline, overtime, promotion and assignment decisions.
- Remove officers from supervisory and training responsibilities following settled or substantiated excessive-force claims.
- Require facility leaders to answer publicly for repeated excessive-force claims involving officers under their supervision.
- Require greater disclosure when General Liability Trust Fund dollars are used for ADOC legal defense contracts.
The analysis comes just ahead of today’s prison oversight committee meeting, where families are expecting to have the opportunity to speak about their experiences with loved ones in Alabama’s maligned prison system. The committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Room 200 at the Alabama Statehouse.
