Alabama's prisons were built to hold 12,115 people. As of August 2026, they housed 21,153 — more than 9,000 inmates over designed capacity, according to the seed report. Republican attorney general candidate Katherine Robertson says the criticism over that overcrowding is overblown, calling it “hype” and insisting the state has made great strides in its prisons over the last decade that courts should recognize.
A Candidate's Pitch on Crime and Capacity
Robertson, who is running for Alabama attorney general and faces Democratic nominee Jeff McLaughlin in the Nov. 3 election, made her comments as reported by AL.com. She said prisons are the most vital part of public safety and pledged to continue efforts to keep certain offenders locked up if elected. She also said the state wants to control its prisons without federal court or government direction — a notable claim given that Alabama is set to face trial against the U.S. Department of Justice in November over allegations of unconstitutional prison conditions.
Central to her argument is a figure she has repeated: that 88% of people in Alabama prisons are violent offenders. That number runs well ahead of the state's own official figures. A state prison system report put the jurisdictional population's share of violent offenders at 64%, while a separate 2019 analysis using Alabama's statutory definition estimated about 75.5% of felony inmates had committed a violent crime, or roughly 69.8% under a federal definition, according to AL.com.
What Counts as Violent Under Alabama Law
Part of the discrepancy traces back to how broadly Alabama defines violence. The state classifies 53 offenses as violent, a list that includes some property and drug crimes alongside crimes against people, per AL.com's reporting. Burglary in the third degree, for instance, is classified as a violent offense under Alabama's definition even when no physical injury occurs. Advocates have long argued that this broad definition inflates the apparent share of “violent” inmates and helps justify denying parole to people the state's own parole system otherwise considers safe enough to live in the community.
The overcrowding itself is not new. Alabama's custodial prison population peaked at 26,500 in 2009, and federal lawyers have said the system has operated above its designed capacity since at least 2000, according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigative document. That same document found that overcrowding and understaffing at every level contributed to excessive force inside the system. The Prison Accountability Center of Alabama notes that the prison population is projected to keep rising over the next four years, and that neither of two new prisons under construction will add net capacity.
Federal Trial Looms Over Conditions Claims
Federal prosecutors have pressed the case that Alabama's men's prisons remain dangerous, arguing that people inside the facilities risk rape, death or illness from overflowing toilets and other unsafe conditions. Federal lawyers have also said the prisons are woefully understaffed in ways that create unreasonable danger for incarcerated people, and that overcapacity strains both facilities and the staff supervising closely housed prisoners. The U.S. Department of Justice initially filed suit alleging Alabama failed to protect incarcerated people from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual abuse, failed to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and allowed excessive force by staff — allegations that trace back to an investigation the department opened in October 2016, according to the Alabama Reporter.
That trial is scheduled for Nov. 30 in Huntsville, per WSFA's reporting. Ahead of it, a 2024 DOJ survey documented 757 reported cases of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse in Alabama Department of Corrections facilities, with 12 substantiated and 46 still under investigation at the time, according to WSFA. The same report noted the state has since approved a $58,000 audit of prison sexual abuse amid the ongoing federal scrutiny. Since mid-2022, ADOC has documented an average of more than 30 prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault reports each month, the Alabama Reporter's analysis found.
Staffing Gains Amid Persistent Shortfalls
State officials point to some signs of progress. The Alabama Department of Corrections had about 1,400 correctional officers on staff at the end of February, roughly 200 more than at the same time in 2025, the Alabama Reflector reported. Reported excessive-use-of-force complaints also declined, falling from 2,213 in 2020 to about 1,000 in 2023. Still, the staffing ratio remains far off target: ADOC reported 17.4 prisoners for every correctional officer in 2023, compared with an authorized ratio of 5.2 to one, the Alabama Reporter's analysis found. Between 2019 and January 2025, at least 12 ADOC officers and supervisors were criminally convicted on charges tied to assaults against incarcerated people, with at least five more charged.
Construction meant to ease the crowding has its own problems. Alabama is building a $1.25 billion prison in Elmore County as part of a broader plan the Legislature approved in 2021, allocating $1.3 billion for two 4,000-bed prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties — neither of which has been completed. The project is behind schedule and far over budget, and the Alabama Department of Corrections confirmed the design-build contractor missed the contractual final-completion deadline of Oct. 15 for the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, even as construction continues.
Robertson's Broader Public Safety Agenda
Beyond prisons, Robertson has staked out positions on local policing. She waved to the crowd before President Donald Trump arrived at a campaign rally at the Mitchell Center in Mobile earlier this month. She said she would support a potential state takeover of the Montgomery police if elected, and backed legislation enabling a state takeover of local police departments more broadly if necessary. A similar bill from state Sen. Will Barfoot, proposed in April, would have allowed a state takeover of local police departments found to be improperly staffed or run — but it died during the most recent legislative session.
Robertson said some areas of the state lack resources while others, including Montgomery, have resources but use them unwisely. Montgomery officials have said they are working to address the city's rise in homicides but do not need the National Guard or increased state oversight, after U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville suggested sending the National Guard into the city. Robertson also said she wants to add staff within her office focused on gang enforcement if she wins the attorney general's race.
Robertson's path to the general election ran through a costly GOP primary. She reported receiving $2.9 million in campaign contributions from the Republican Attorneys General Association and from Leonard Leo, and had spent $4.8 million through June 12, compared with $4.3 million spent by her primary opponent, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell, according to the Alabama Reflector. She won that nomination in June and now heads toward November with the state's prison system, and her characterization of it, likely to remain a flashpoint through Election Day and the DOJ trial that follows closely behind it.
