Doug Jones Calls for Independent Review of Alabama's Prison System

Birmingham, AL – Alabamians deserve a prison system that keeps people safe, respects taxpayers, and operates with transparency. During his weekly Ask Doug Live livestream on Sunday, Democratic nominee for governor Doug Jones announced a plan to bring independent oversight and greater accountability to Alabama's prison system.

"The governor appoints the prison commissioner. We need to get somebody in there that is going to open it up, look under every hood, everywhere you can go,” said Jones. "I think there needs to be an independent commission, an independent review agency that is looking at the prison system, how it's running, and the money that's being spent."

A former United States Attorney who prosecuted violent crime, public corruption, and terrorism cases, Jones later represented clients in criminal cases before serving on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. His decades of experience in the criminal justice system inform his call for greater transparency and accountability in Alabama's prison system.

"It's a horrible thing when the spotlight on our prison conditions and the deaths and the beatings that occur had to be shown from cell phones that were smuggled in by guards and given to the inmates," Jones told viewers.

The cell phone videos Jones referenced were later featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution, which chronicles violence and conditions inside Alabama's prison system.

"We've got to have a better approach,” said Jones. “This is going to be a real issue for the next governor, and we intend to tackle it."

Watch Jones' full livestream HERE.

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