The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the treatment of juveniles at the overcrowded Jefferson County Jail in Alabama a year after the SPLC urged the government to investigate the violence, neglect and abuse of children awaiting trial.
President Obama’s visit to Alabama today to discuss proposals to rein in predatory lenders underscores the need to regulate an industry the SPLC has found traps low-income people in a crushing cycle of debt.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Selma-to-Montgomery March, we should rededicate ourselves to the cause with a renewed sense of urgency and the determination of those who marched the 54 miles to the Alabama Capitol.
Watch SPLC Founder Morris Dees speak to thousands of people who gathered at the Alabama Capitol after reenacting the final, triumphant day of the Selma-to-Montgomery March.
Judicial Correction Services (JCS), a private probation company, collected money from impoverished Alabamians by threatening them with jail when they fell behind on paying fines from traffic violations or other citations in the city of Clanton. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit accusing JCS of violating federal racketeering laws.
An SPLC suit filed today accuses Judicial Correction Services, a for-profit company, of violating federal racketeering laws by extorting money from impoverished Alabamians by threatening them with jail when they fall behind on paying fines from traffic violations or other citations.
Marking the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, U.S. Rep. John Lewis and a gathering of congressional leaders and others laid a wreath on the Civil Rights Memorial at the SPLC in Montgomery, Alabama, to honor those who were killed during the movement.
Remembering the sacrifices of the past is important, but it’s not enough. We must address the racial and economic inequality that is so evident 50 years after the Voting Rights Act and 150 years after slavery was abolished.
The action comes amid a confrontation between the Alabama Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, which has struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional.
The SPLC’s new classroom documentary, Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot, tells the story of the 1965 Selma voting rights struggle through the eyes of teachers and students who were at the forefront of the movement.
