Another Alabama inmate was found stabbed in a state prison yard earlier this week.
Officials with the Alabama Department of Corrections say Timothy Robertson was fatally stabbed Tuesday night. Robertson is the third prisoner to be killed at Elmore Correctional Facility this year. Another inmate, whose identity has not yet been released, will be charged with Robertson’s murder.
Robertson’s death is the fourth killing of an Alabama prisoner this year, and six correctional officers have been injured in assaults at state prisons so far this year.
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn says he plans to deploy all available resources in an effort to prevent more violence. The state’s prison system, and Elmore Correctional Facility in particular, are badly overcrowded and understaffed. The facility has less than half the officers it’s authorized to employ, and double the inmates it was built to house.
State lawmakers have refused proposals to build new prisons, and correctional administrators say the low pay and dangerous working conditions make it tough to hire and retain enough correctional officers.