On January 6^th, alumni of Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama gathered at the Alabama Power Metro Service Center to discuss the challenges in the Alabama correctional system and the proposals for prison reform..

Senator Cam Ward, chair of the Alabama Prison Reform Task Force, and Bennet Wright, Executive Director of the  Alabama Sentencing Commission and a member of the Task Force, presented the problems in Alabama’s prisons and discussed the task force proposals, including the reforms passed by the legislature this past year. After the panel discussion, members traveled by bus to the St. Clair Correctional Facility. The warden, DeWayne Estes, led a tour through the facility and along with Jeffery Williams, Deputy Commissioner for Government Relations and Community Corrections, answered questions from the class concerning conditions in the prison. This is an important issue in the state currently and for the future.