A conversation with Beth Shelburne on ‘Blood Money’
Jun 06, 2025 | 9:23 am ET
Description
The cost of defending lawsuits against individual officers and larger, class-action cases against the entire department has pushed ADOC’s legal spending over $57 million since 2020. In the last five years, the department has spent over $17 million on the legal defense of accused officers and lawsuit settlements, along with over $39 million litigating a handful of complex cases against ADOC, including a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice over prison conditions. (Alex Cochran for Alabama Reflector)
Journalist Beth Shelburne spent over a year investigating the Alabama Department of Corrections, pulling court documents, financial records and internal documents to track settlements over excessive force and what happened to those involved. In “Blood Money,” a four-part series that ran on the Alabama Reflector last month, Shelburne revealed the state had spent tens of millions of dollars to settle litigation alleging assaults on inmates that led to hospitalizations, brain damage or death. Most of that money went to attorneys for corrections officers. Some officers at the center of multiple allegations excessive force received promotions afterward.
Shelburne discussed the series with Louisiana Illuminator Editor Greg LaRose on the Illuminator’s podcast, “The Light Switch.”
Montgomery