A 63-year-old man serving a life sentence was found unresponsive in his cell at William Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer Saturday evening, and he was pronounced dead a short time later. Bobby Earl Griffin had been incarcerated at the maximum-security prison since a 2012 conviction out of Mobile County, and his death is now awaiting further lab testing before a cause is determined.
According to WBMA, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office said Griffin was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday evening and was pronounced dead at 7:13 p.m. on Oct. 17. The coroner's office reported no evidence of trauma or foul play, but the station notes that the final cause of death remains pending additional laboratory studies.
Griffin's life sentence stemmed from his 2012 conviction in Mobile County, per the same report. He was housed at Donaldson, a level 5 maximum-security facility in Bessemer that, as CBS 42 has reported, is meant for incarcerating the “most violent and highest classified offenders.”
A Prison With a Troubled Recent History
Griffin's death adds to a long list of fatalities at Donaldson in recent years. CBS 42's special report found that as of October 2024, 23 people had died at the facility that year, compared with 28 deaths reported there in 2023. By May 1, 2024, 13 men had died while incarcerated at Donaldson — five more than had died by the same point in 2023.
Of the deaths recorded in 2024, nine were attributed to natural disease, three to unreported causes, and one to an accidental fentanyl overdose, according to CBS 42's reporting. Not all deaths at the prison have been attributed to illness or overdose. Four people died at the facility via stabbing in 2024, including Deandre Roney, according to the ACLU of Alabama. More recently, inmate Antwion Webb was stabbed at Donaldson just before midnight on Sept. 12, 2025, and was pronounced dead early the next morning, as reported by AL.com.
Pending Lab Results Echo Past Cases
The circumstances surrounding Griffin's death mirror at least one earlier case at the same prison. CBS 42 previously reported that a postmortem examination in another Donaldson inmate death found no evidence of trauma or foul play, while the final cause of death remained pending additional laboratory studies — language nearly identical to what the coroner's office has said about Griffin.
The deaths at Donaldson reflect a broader pattern across Alabama's prison system. Alabama Appleseed reported that 202 people died in Alabama prisons during the most recent year it tracked, while the ACLU of Alabama has said there were 277 deaths statewide in 2024. The Alabama Department of Corrections maintains monthly statistical reports on trends within its facilities, though those reports focus on broader metrics like inmate intakes, releases, and staffing rather than individual case details.
No additional information about Griffin's death has been released beyond the coroner's initial findings. His case remains open pending the results of further laboratory testing.
