State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) addressed the need for comprehensive reform in Alabama's prison system while speaking with Greg Davis of "Priority Talk" radio earlier this week.
During the episode, the legislator spoke about two bills he recently introduced that would improve conditions in Alabama's jails and increase oversight of the Department of Corrections. Both bills, SB 84 and SB 361, are sponsored by Stutts.
If passed, SB 84 would require the Alabama Department of Public Health to assume jurisdiction over sanitation in cafeterias and other food services operated by the Department of Corrections and county and municipal jails. The legislation calls for "tailoring appropriate requirements," which would include regular sanitation inspections and reporting and correcting any violations.
Existing law requires that the food served to state inmates be wholesome, but otherwise sets no standards for food sanitation prepared in or for correctional facilities and county and municipal jails.
"It's working its way through the system, and it's addressing the food services in the department's direction," Stutts said of SB 84. "It was called to my attention that they had several months without hot water in the kitchen. I called it to some people's attention, and it took another month for it to get fixed. Those kinds of things are just unacceptable."
"The bill basically just gives the Alabama Department of Public Health the authority to inspect and follow up to make sure that the corrective measures are taken," explained Stutts. "Currently, under the code, ADPH has the authority to inspect, but they didn't have any authority to do anything with the results of the inspection, other than give a report to the warden. And so my bill there just simply gives them the authority to follow up on it and make sure that it gets done.
The second piece of legislation, SB 316, would create a Prison Oversight Coordinator in the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts to monitor and inspect the activities and treatment of inmates in correctional facilities.
"It gives a level of oversight. There's currently someone with the examiner of public accounts who looks at the Department of Corrections in a part-time capacity," Stutts stated. "This bill would make that a full-time position where there was somebody who was in charge of looking over the corrections. Then there's an oversight committee that will be appointed. The oversight committee is who this person would report their findings to, to follow up and make sure that corrective measures are taken. So the bill is to specifically identify the problems and then address the problems."
"They would change the part-time position into a full-time position. The examiner of Public Accounts is not technically a branch of government, but an agency of government that most of us in the legislature have a lot of faith in. They do a really good job of auditing and looking at things, looking at the inner workings of different departments. So basically, anybody who gets tax money could and should be audited and checked up on."
Stutts added: "We usually get very good data from them, and they run a good operation there."
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