A prisoner in Bessemer’s Donaldson Correctional Facility for murder appeared on Facebook Live videos on Sunday morning wearing a correctional officer’s vest, holding a handgun and ranting about prison conditions.
Prisoner Derrol Shaw appeared in the videos on social media with bloody makeshift bandages around his wrists.
In several videos, he appears to be smoking while accusing those in power of creating conditions for criminal activity to justify maintaining a prison population to “continue the legacy of white supremacy.”
“This right here is a continuation of slavery,” he said. “... They do it in race-neutral ways. They like to use crime and punishment as the guise for keeping up white supremacy, but that’s an old trick.”
WARNING: The following videos frequently contain offensive language.
“They ain’t enforcing no … law, man,” he said in a separate video. “The only thing they [are] doing is beating the people out of tax money. They [are] telling folks, ‘Oh, we need prisons for these prisoners.’ You create the conditions for crime … These conditions, even with all of that, you know, they create the conditions to justify the means, you know what I’m saying?”
Shaw was arrested for four murders in Birmingham in 2006. He also pleaded guilty in 2009 to the murder of a 91-year-old church deacon and has been convicted of more crimes.
“I told y’all I’m leaving this [explicative] one way or another,” he said. “... Sure enough, there’s a lot of physical violence, but the source of it is really just incarceration.”
Officials with the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) said Sunday morning it was investigating a “security incident” at Donaldson, and the facility was on lockdown. They also assured the situation presented no danger to the public.
The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued four new charges against Shaw on Monday: first-degree escape, promoting prison contraband, possessing contraband certain individuals are not allowed to have and terroristic threats.
The warrants accuse Shaw of employing physical force with a deadly weapon.
ADOC officials said on Monday that Donaldson was back to normal.
Nevertheless, Jefferson County commissioner Sheila Tyson told WBRC she received over 100 calls from county residents worried about the situation and that escape attempts have been a consistent problem at Donaldson.
According to the ADOC, Shaw was treated in the health care unit for minor injuries. However, it is not clear how he sustained his injuries. The investigation is still ongoing.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email will.blakely@1819news.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.
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