Lawmakers renew contract auditing ADOC compliance with federal sexual assault laws

A state legislative committee Thursday approved a contract to audit Alabama’s prisons’ compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

The contract between the Alabama Department of Corrections and Texas-based Corrections Consulting Services, was renewed through November 2027 and increased by $58,400, bringing the total amount to more than $164,000.

“This is the vendor that does that,” said Mandy Speirs, assistant general counsel for the ADOC. “It audits each facility every three years, so it rotates. It audits a third of our facilities every year.”

PREA, passed in 2003, requires facilities to provide resources to reduce sexual assaults in prisons. Corrections Consulting Services employs auditors who are certified with the U.S. DOJ to conduct audits of facilities to determine if they meet the standards set by the department.

The ADOC opened 153 investigations related to sexual abuse and harassment across its facilities for the first three months of the year, according to the quarterly report on the ADOC website. ADOC opened another 139 investigations for the next three months leading up to the end of June.

ADOC listed most of the results from the investigations as either “unfounded” or “unsubstantiated.” In the first three months of the year, for example, only 11 of the 153 investigations that were closed were substantiated. For the three months leading up to June, only 3 of the 142 closed investigations into sexual assault and harassment were substantiated. Critics have charged the department underreports sexual assaults.

In 2019 and 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice released a series of reports detailing physical and sexual assaults on inmates in Alabama’s prisons, which led to a federal lawsuit against the state late in 2020.

In August, members of the Contract Review Committee delayed a contract awarded by ADOC for an additional $30 million to Bill Lunsford of Butler Snow to defend ADOC in the lawsuit.

Last month, the U.S. DOJ filed a request for summary judgment in the lawsuit, which alleges that the conditions in Alabama’s men’s correctional facilities violate their Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

The motion for summary judgment said some of the sexual violence is committed behind sheets draped over bunks, which leads to a lack of reporting. The motion also alleged corrections staff are not present to address the problem.

The motion for summary judgment also quoted former ADOC Commissioner John Hamm saying he did not monitor information about the incidents of sexual assault or receive reports of overdose deaths.