A state legislative committee on Thursday approved the renewal of a contract aimed at auditing the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) for compliance with federal sexual assault laws. The agreement with Texas-based Corrections Consulting Services, now valued at more than $164,000, extends through November 2027 and includes an increase of $58,400.
The contract focuses on the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was passed in 2003. PREA mandates that correctional facilities implement resources to reduce sexual assaults within prisons. Corrections Consulting Services employs auditors certified by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct these audits, determining if facilities meet the federal standards. Mandy Speirs, assistant general counsel for the ADOC, explained that this vendor audits each facility every three years, rotating through a third of the state’s facilities annually, stating, “This is the vendor that does that.”
The contract renewal comes as the ADOC continues to report on investigations into sexual abuse and harassment within its facilities. According to quarterly reports available on the ADOC website, the department initiated 153 such investigations in the first three months of the year. An additional 139 investigations were opened during the subsequent three months, leading up to the end of June. Most of these investigations were listed as “unfounded” or “unsubstantiated” when closed. For instance, in the first quarter, only 11 of the 153 closed investigations were substantiated. In the three months ending in June, only 3 of the 142 closed investigations into sexual assault and harassment were substantiated. Critics have previously charged that the department underreports sexual assaults.
These developments are set against the backdrop of an ongoing federal lawsuit against the state of Alabama. The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit in late 2020, following a series of reports in 2019 and 2020 that detailed physical and sexual assaults on inmates in Alabama’s prisons. The lawsuit alleges that conditions in Alabama’s men’s correctional facilities violate inmates' Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
Last month, the U.S. DOJ filed a request for summary judgment in this lawsuit. The motion for summary judgment specifically highlighted that some sexual violence occurs behind sheets draped over bunks, which it stated contributes to a lack of reporting. The motion also alleged that corrections staff are not present to address these problems. Furthermore, the motion quoted former ADOC Commissioner John Hamm saying he did not monitor information about the incidents of sexual assault or receive reports of overdose deaths.
In a related action, members of the Contract Review Committee had, in August, delayed a separate contract. This earlier contract, awarded by the ADOC, sought an additional $30 million for Bill Lunsford of Butler Snow to defend the department in the aforementioned federal lawsuit.
