ACLU of Alabama Awarded Reproductive Freedom Grant
The ACLU of Alabama was recently awarded a small grant
from the National ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. The grant will support the affiliate’s
efforts to investigate and address women in county jails across Alabama and in the Alabama prison system who
are in need of reproductive health care.
Conditions in Alabama
jails are horrific, with prisoners routinely suffering medical neglect. Mental health needs are often ignored, and
cruel and medically unacceptable use of isolation is not uncommon. Prisoners in many facilities suffer from
malnutrition, filthy conditions are the norm, and severe overcrowding is nearly
universal.
Ensuring Access to
Medical Care: Whether an
incarcerated woman decides to continue her pregnancy to term or have an
abortion, she has a constitutionally protected right to obtain appropriate
medical care while in state custody. The ACLU works to secure these rights in
prisons and jails throughout the country.
End Shackling of
Pregnant Prisoners: Shackling
pregnant women during active labor and childbirth is, unfortunately, all too
common in our nation’s prisons and jails. Through litigation and advocacy,
the ACLU works to end this barbaric practice and protect the health of women
prisoners and their babies.
Beginning in April ACLU-AL staff, working in collaboration
with national staff from the Reproductive Freedom Project, will visit jails
across the state, Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and federal immigration
detention centers to investigate complaints, interview prisoners, and
document conditions. We also hope to
meet with faith leaders and other concerned citizens in communities where the
worst conditions are found and engage them in efforts to press for change.
ACLU of Alabama Welcomes New Staff
Jared Shepherd joined the staff of the ACLU of Alabama in
January 2010 in the position of Law Fellow. Jared earned a bachelor’s degree
in Socio-Political Communication from Missouri State
University, before
serving as a Health Education Volunteer with the United States Peace Corps in
The Republic of Armenia. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law
School with a concentration in Human Rights Law, and he interned with The
Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, MN, and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in Harare, Zimbabwe.
During 2008-2009, Jared clerked for The Honorable Anna M. Moran of the Kenai
Superior Court in Kenai, Alaska.
Olivia Turner
Executive
Director, ACLU of Alabama
207 Montgomery Street, Suite 910, Montgomery, Alabama 36104
T: 334-262-0304 | F: 334-269-5666 |
info@aclualabama.org
www.aclualabama.org
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