Community members are questioning the conditions inside Birmingham City Jail after two inmates died within three days at the facility. 

The first inmate, Kalena “Peaches” Croskey — a 32-year-old transgender woman — died on June 11. Croskey was found unresponsive in her single-person cell. She had been booked in the jail on April 21 on charges of disorderly conduct, public intoxication, criminal mischief and two counts of third-degree assault.

The second death came on June 14, when 35-year-old Center Point man Kadeem Sweazer was also found unresponsive in his cell. Sewazer had been booked into the jail on June 13 on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Birmingham Deputy Chief of Public Safety Carlton Peeples has said that both deaths stemmed from self-harm incidents. 

Sweazer had been on suicide watch when he was found dead, after jail officials had caught him attempting to self-harm earlier in the day. After that incident, Sweazer was transported to UAB Hospital for evaluation. UAB medical staff released Sweazer, after which he was transported back to the jail and placed on suicide watch. Peeples said that regular welfare checks occurred during the time Sweazer was on suicide watch.

Peeples did not elaborate on the details of Croskey’s self-harm incident, only saying that jail staff discovered Croskey unresponsive in her cell during a routine check. After discovering Croskey, Peebles said jail staff entered her cell to attempt to resuscitate her and called for medical assistance. Croskey was declared dead on the scene. 

The recent deaths have led some to question the conditions inside the jail, including a group of activists who protested outside of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office last week, resulting in one arrest. 

Cell phone footage shows Eric Hall, a founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham, standing with a group of fellow protestors outside of Woodfin’s office inside of City Hall, demanding to speak with the mayor about the recent deaths. Hall was later tackled and forcibly removed by police officers for not leaving the building. 

“So you see this? This is how we’re treated in Birmingham, Alabama,” Hall said during his arrest.

Birmingham’s TAKE Resource Center, a transgender advocacy organization, also spoke out against the deaths.

“The lack of adequate mental health resources, combined with negligence and systemic shortcomings in our system, continues to cost lives,” the group said in a public statement.

TAKE held a balloon send-off memorial for Croskey on Saturday. 

Conditions at Birmingham City Jail are the subject of a recent lawsuit, which claims that inhumane conditions inside the jail led to the death of two inmates who died from COVID-19 inside the jail in December 2022. The families of these inmates claim that both inmates were ignored by jail staff and received minimal medical attention while they were jailed. 

In a statement posted to social media last week, Woodfin reiterated that jail staff followed protocol in connection to the two deaths, while also mourning Croskey and Sweazer.

“They were not statistics. They were not case numbers. They were human beings and they deserve to be spoken about with care and compassion,” the statement read.

Woodfin went on to point out that the Birmingham City Council recently approved $5 million in funding to update the jail’s HVAC system, plumbing and security systems. 

Alabama top stories in brief

Primary runoffs set stage for November midterms

• Alabamians voted in primary runoff elections last week, selecting party nominees for several statewide offices.
• Last week’s winners included:
  • Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, who beat former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson to win the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate. Democrats also had a runoff for their nomination, with Birmingham attorney Everett Wess beating Birmingham businessman Dakarai Larriett.
  • Former chair of the Alabama Republican Party John Wahl, who defeated current Secretary of State Wes Allen to earn the party’s nomination for lieutenant governor.
  • Deputy Attorney General Katherine Robertson, who defeated Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell for the Republican nomination for attorney general.
  • Democrat Andrew Sneed, who beat Candice Duvieilh for the party’s nomination for U.S. Congressional District 5.
  • Corey Hill — the mayor of the Marshall County town of Douglas, who beat former Orange Beach City Commissioner Christina Woerner McInnis in the Republican agricultural commissioner race.
  • Former state auditor Jim Ziegler, who beat the incumbent Chris Beeker for the Republican nomination for Public Service Commission Place 2. 
• Turnout for last week’s primaries was 10.7% statewide.
• Special primary elections will be held on Aug. 11 in Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 due to recent redistricting. 

ALGOP dismisses Tuberville residency challenge, new lawsuit filed

• The Alabama Republican Party has rejected claims that its gubernatorial nominee, current U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, does not meet the residency requirements to run for governor. The party’s 21-member steering committee voted unanimously to dismiss the challenge.
• The challenge came from fellow Republican Ken McFeeters, who also ran for the party’s gubernatorial nomination. McFeeters claimed that Tuberville has not resided in the state for seven years — the residency requirement to become governor as outlined in the state constitution. 
• Tuberville has been dogged for years by accusations that he does not reside in Alabama. The senator owns both a house in Auburn, as well as a multimillion dollar beach home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. 
• Following the party’s dismissal of McFeeter’s challenge, a lawsuit was filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court making the same claims.
• McFeeters is not involved in that lawsuit, though he did file a similar lawsuit earlier this year in Covington County. That suit was dismissed for lack of standing.

Ivey appoints four members to newly expanded Public Service Commission

• Gov. Kay Ivey last week appointed four new members to the Alabama Public Service Commission.
• In this year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed HB475 — a bill that expanded Public Service Commission membership from three to seven, allowing Ivey to appoint four new members to the board.
• Ivey’s nominees included:
  • Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency who retired from the U.S. Army.
  • Fred Johnson, former CEO of Farmers Telecommunications.
  • Demarcus Joiner, an attorney at Birmingham firm Maynard Nexen.
  • Alabama State University President Quinton T. Ross Jr.
• In the future, all Public Service Commissioners will be elected by congressional districts on a rolling basis. 

Our stories you might have missed

• If you’re looking for a unique read this summer, then check out Wesley Hyde’s review, Meth and magic: a review of Bringing Home the Rain. The book is the first in the “Redemption of Howard Marsh” series.“As the series title implies, this book follows Howard Marsh, best described as “a liar, thief, a poor man’s wizard” who lives in the fictional Jubal County, Alabama. Howard is one of the fictional county’s less fortunate residents being borderline homeless and deeply wrapped-up in drug addiction. He scrapes by in the town of Elk Grove by stealing or doing odd jobs around the county: finding lost objects, water witching or solving magical problems for shadowy government agencies.”

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