The Associated Press
Samira Jafari
February 10, 2006

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — After three years of battling inmate lawsuits, inadequate funding and even facing jail time for prison overcrowding, prison Commissioner Donal Campbell resigned Friday.

Gov. Bob Riley said in a news release that he accepted Campbell's resignation, which is effective Feb. 28.

Campbell took the post in January 2003 after serving as Tennessee's prison commissioner, inheriting in Alabama an underfunded prison system plagued with overcrowding and lawsuits, including a pending case in which he is under the threat of a contempt citation due to overcrowding.

"The challenges facing Alabama's prison system are well known and have built up over decades, but under Gov. Riley's leadership, the right steps are being taken to face those challenges and reform the system," Campbell was quoted as saying in a statement that was issued by Riley's office.

It's unclear whether Campbell was asked to resign. Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, would only say the governor accepted Campbell's resignation.

The statement said he was stepping down from the post to "pursue other opportunities," but did not give details. Calls to his office were directed to the governor's office and Campbell could not be reached for comment.

"During his tenure, Donal has maintained a positive outlook in one of the most difficult positions in state government," Riley said in the statement Friday.

However, the commissioner is best known in Alabama for his pleas to the Legislature, in the past two years asking for a half billion dollars to build additional prisons and make more room for a prison system that is stuffed at more than double design capacity with some 27,000 inmates.

To make matters worse, the overcrowding caused a backlog of more than 700 state inmates at county jails, violating a 2003 court order requiring that state inmates be transferred from county jails to penitentiaries within 30 days. Campbell was able to dodge a sentence himself, as a circuit judge weighing the contempt order against him put the pressure on the Legislature to come up with a solution.

Legislators have shot down Campbell's big budget requests each year, saying taxpayers would want to see money spent on issues like health care and taxpayers — not on prisoners.

"He might have been criticized by some, but you have to take into consideration the amount of money the department has," said Lynda Flynt, executive director of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, who has worked with Campbell to come up with ways to alleviate overcrowding.

"He's done the best he could, considering the circumstances," she added. "I wouldn't want that job."

During his brief stint, he garnered support for alternative sentencing programs from several lawmakers, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, who said he didn't expect the resignation.

Sen. Myron Penn, D-Union Springs, chairman of the Joint Prison Oversight Committee, said he believes that Campbell was pushed to step down by the Riley administration.

"I think he was asked to resign," Penn said. "I think he felt restricted in his requests, maybe because there were different viewpoints in the administration."

"It did come as a surprise," Black said. "I think he made an effort to reduce costs and worked hard to get adequate funding. ...It was a very tough task he was assigned."

Overcrowding wasn't Campbell's only problem, though it was the biggest. He inherited three major federal lawsuits, calling for revamped health care at the Tutwiler prison for women and the St. Clair and Limestone prisons. While wrapping those up in costly settlements in 2004, another health care suit was filed by inmates at the Hamilton prison for the aged and infirm. That case is still pending.

This year was particularly frustrating for Campbell. The governor's proposed budget only allotted a $5 million increase over last year's prison budget, despite recommendations by Riley's prison task force committee to adequately fund the Department of Corrections. Campbell initially said a $250 million increase was needed.

After making a final plea last month to lawmakers for millions more, Campbell said he would try to make do with his funding. But Campbell also said the governor's budget allows for no new prison beds and won't necessarily keep him from having to go to jail on contempt charges for not complying with a court order to remove state prisoners from county jails.

When he was asked by state Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House budget committee, if the funding would keep him out of jail, Campbell replied, "I'm not sure I can say that."

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