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SAFIYAH RIDDLE/Report For America.

Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know

November 11, 2025

Fernando Clark spent the last 10 months of his life in an Alabama jail cell, waiting for court-ordered psychiatric treatment. He died while waiting for the treatment that never arrived. Clark was one of hundreds in Alabama awaiting a spot in the state’s limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays. Seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has worsened. The waitlist for the state’s sole secure psychiatric facility is almost five times longer than when the decree was issued. Experts say this issue is nearly universal and worsening across the country.

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Alabama promised to improve psychiatric care for men charged with crimes. They still wait years

November 11, 2025

Fernando Clark died in the Montgomery County Jail while waiting for psychiatric treatment. He was one of many in Alabama stuck on a waitlist for mental health facilities, despite a 2018 agreement to address delays. The waitlist for the state’s only secure psychiatric facility is now almost five times longer than when the agreement was made. Men can wait years for placement, reflecting a national trend where demand for treatment exceeds available beds. In Alabama, this means people like Clark, charged with minor crimes, often wait longer for a bed than if they had pled guilty.

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FILE - The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower at the Malone Hood Plaza stands in front of Foster Auditorium on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala., June 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes, File)

Federal judge weighs whether Alabama’s anti-DEI law threatens First Amendment

June 26, 2025

Professors and students at the University of Alabama say that a new an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law has already caused significant harm on campus less than a year after going into effect. Three professors are saying that the law has jeopardized funding and led to changes to curriculum. The new state law is part of a slew of proposals from Republican lawmakers across the country taking aim at DEI programs on college campuses. Six professors and students sued the school in January alleging free speech violations and racial discrimination. A federal judge will decide whether the law is constitutional before the new school year begins.

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FILE - The scene of a fatal shooting outside Hush, a hookah lounge, in the Five Points neighborhood of Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)

It may be ‘very difficult’ to find fair jury for man accused of killing 18 people, lawyer says

June 17, 2025

A judge ruled that the Alabama man accused of killing 18 people in 2023 and 2024, including two mass shootings, will go to trial in April next year. Damien McDaniel could face the death penalty for those cases. But his attorneys raised concerns in a hearing on Tuesday about whether it will be possible to select jurors who don’t have connections to the victims in those cases. Birmingham had one of the deadliest years on record in 2024 with 151 homicides. Birmingham police officers have accused McDaniel and one of other man of committing almost one third of those murders.

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