© Alabama Justice ProjectCarlton Ott, Clark Rice, Steve Hamm, Steven Parrish, David Jay, Michael Magrino, Dewayne Herring, Andy Hughes, Gary Coleman and Scott Smith.
Leaked documents reveal that an Alabama police department planted drugs and guns on innocent black men for years, and prosecutors helped cover it upIn one of the most shocking cases of badge abuse ever exposed, the Alabama Justice Project
revealed that a ring of corrupt cops in the Dothan Police Department planted drugs and guns on hundreds of young black men for over a decade, in most cases resulting in their imprisonment. Their actions were aided by supervisors and covered up by the district attorney.
All of the cops were members of a racist Neoconfederate organization. Many of those involved have been promoted and now hold high positions in law enforcement, with two attending the FBI academy and one holding a position as adjunct professor at Troy University's Criminal Justice Program.
While the corrupt cops advanced their careers, the victims of their scheme were sentenced to prison and some still languish there today. It is believed that
over 1,000 men were wrongfully convicted from planted drugs and weapons, while the district attorney's office raked in millions of dollars from court fees and the pre-trial diversion program.
In 1998, several honorable officers in the Dothan PD witnessed their colleagues' criminal behavior and tried to expose them, managing to initiate an internal investigation. However, the investigation was covered up by superiors and the district attorney.
Since that time, awareness of police brutality and corruption has grown exponentially, and the whistleblowers believe there is now a better chance at serving justice and freeing those wrongfully imprisoned.
Comment: Dothan is just one small city in the the state. According to the Sentencing Project, from 1998 to the present, the Alabama prison population grew by about 10,000. These wrongfully convicted men would represent 10% of the increase, not to mention the profits their lives gave to corporations. It's jaw-dropping that these civil and human rights abuses are allowed to go on and on and on... for money.
America: Enter the biggest prison system in history
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