Maeve Higgins: Society averts eyes from 'living death sentence' of prison inmates in Alabama

Many people who have not even committed a crime that caused anyone any physical injury are serving the same sentence as the Parkland shooter who murdered 17 people and injured 17 more in a Florida school in 2018

'The dominant narrative that’s developed in the US around crime and incarceration is that people who are in prison deserve to be there, deserve to be there forever, and deserve whatever happens to them while they’re there.’

IN Alabama, men in prison look after the dying. They care for their fellow prisoners, the elderly and sick, who are living out their final days in hospice behind bars. Inmates cook and serve all the meals, maintain the buildings, and do the laundry. 

As well as keeping prisons running, many inmates have jobs in large manufacturing plants where they make various items, from license plates to furniture. Some take part in work-release programs in hotels and restaurants or as roadside crews who pick up trash and trim the grass along the state’s highways.