The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against corrections officers who beat a man to death at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in 2019, though the department continues to deny that the officers used excessive force.

A settlement payment of $250,000 was issued on Aug. 16 in the case of Sondra Ray v. Roderick Gadson, et al., according to data from Alabama’s Department of Finance.

Before reaching the settlement, the state paid 11 different attorneys or firms a total of $393,000 to defend the corrections officers named in the lawsuit, the records show.

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Ray filed the lawsuit in 2020 after the October 2019 death of her son, Steven Davis.

The day before he was removed from life support, Davis, 35, was rushed to UAB Hospital with critical injuries after an incident involving multiple officers inside a “behavior modification unit” or “hot bay” at Donaldson prison. A medical examiner classified Davis’ death as a homicide, caused by “blunt force injuries of head sustained during an assault.”

Ray, reached by phone, had no comment on the lawsuit or settlement agreement, but said nothing will ever heal the grief she experienced in losing her son five years ago.

“It never leaves you,” she said. “If they hadn’t killed him, I wonder if he’d be here right now helping me. I wonder if he’d have kids. What they took from me will never go away.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall declined to press criminal charges against the officers involved, and the department’s internal investigation determined the officers’ use of force against Davis was justified.

The criminal investigation began in the Bessemer district attorney’s office, but in 2020, Bessemer DA Lynneice Washington recused her office when she learned one of the officers involved in Davis’ death was related to an assistant prosecutor in Bessemer. At that point, the criminal investigation was transferred to the attorney general’s office.

Hank Sherrod, an attorney representing Ray, said in a statement that “ADOC and the criminal justice system failed to hold anyone accountable.”

“Sandy would trade every dollar to have her son back or to see the officers who murdered her son go to prison, but she is glad to close this chapter in her life,” the statement said.

Four officers were named in the lawsuit. Two of them were still working for ADOC as of this month, according to payment records available in the Open Alabama checkbook database maintained by the Department of Finance.

ADOC confirmed that the two officers were still employed by the department but did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit settlement.

From the beginning, ADOC framed the incident that led to Davis’ death as one in which officers felt threatened by Davis — an account disputed by Ray and some witnesses. She described her son as a follower, not an instigator.

“Stevie was in a confined area,” she said in 2019, shortly after his death. “He wouldn’t create an altercation. He didn’t want to die. He was coming home to take care of me.”

A statement ADOC released two days after Davis’ death said Davis rushed out of his cell brandishing a prison-made weapon in each hand, and refused to comply with officers’ demands to drop his weapons.

“At that time, correctional officers applied physical measures to diffuse the threat in order to remove the weapons from the scene and secure the inmate,” the statement concluded.

But the civil complaint filed by Ray stated that officers “brutally beat Davis, ultimately killing him,” and therefore subjected him to excessive force, violating his constitutional rights. The complaint disputed the account by ADOC, saying Davis dropped the weapons and submitted to officers, but they still beat him, striking him in the head with batons and stomping on his head.

“The blows to Davis’ head are considered deadly force and would have been excessive even if Davis was resisting the officers,” the complaint argued.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a report in July 2020 concluding that officers within ADOC frequently use excessive force on men housed throughout Alabama prisons, giving rise to systemically unconstitutional conditions.

While not naming Davis, the report described his death. It stated that he had initially rushed toward another prisoner, not officers, and that an officer sprayed him with a chemical agent and struck him on the arm, causing him to drop a weapon.

“A second correctional officer responded to the scene and administered palm-heel strikes to the prisoner’s head as well as knee-to-head strikes as he tried to disarm the prisoner,” the report stated. “The prisoner eventually went to the ground face down and officers reported that the prisoner concealed a knife between his upper torso and the floor. Numerous prisoner-witnesses, however, reported that correctional officers continued to strike the prisoner after he dropped any weapons and posed no threat.”

Davis was in prison on a probation violation related to drug possession. In 2009, he pleaded guilty in a fatal robbery in which he drove a vehicle involved in the incident. He was killed several days after ADOC transferred him to Donaldson Prison in Bessemer from Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, a town in Bibb County.

After her son was killed, Ray spoke to lawmakers about her family’s experience, telling them she had to have a closed casket at his funeral because of the severity of his head and facial injuries. She continued to speak publicly about the lack of transparency by ADOC, generating national media coverage of the incident in the year following Davis’ death.

Legal spending by ADOC spiked in recent years as the embattled department faces hundreds of lawsuits filed by prisoners and their families over excessive force, wrongful death, failure to protect from violence and medical neglect.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in 2020, saying “the state failed or refused to correct the unconstitutional conditions in Alabama’s prisons for men.”

Two class action lawsuits against ADOC are now in their 10th year of litigation: one over the lack of mental health care across the system and the other addressing violence inside St. Clair Correctional Facility.

It’s a different kind of week for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama football. For the first time since 1984, the Crimson Tide lost to Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville, dropping 40-35 and falling from its perch as the No. 1 team on the AP media poll.

On Wednesday, DeBoer will have to face Alabama fans in Tuscaloosa. The first-year head coach is scheduled to make his weekly appearance on the “Hey Coach” radio show, on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, for the first time of his tenure after a loss.

DeBoer will also preview Alabama’s first matchup since the loss, a Saturday battle with South Carolina in Tuscaloosa. That game is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, and will be aired on ABC.

DeBoer’s portion of the “Hey Coach” is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT from Baumhower’s Victory Grille in Tuscaloosa. Follow along here for live updates once he puts on the headset.

— DeBoer arrives at Baumhower’s and begins the show, alongside host Chris Stewart.

— Says he’s “extremely disappointed and frustrated” by loss to Vanderbilt, but “the sun came up.” Says Alabama looks to film to find answers about what it needs to fix. Says he’s been proud of how players have responded throughout week.

— Stewart mentions the Malachi Moore outburst at the end of the Vanderbilt game. DeBoer says Alabama had leadership step up in locker room after the loss.

— Stewart asks what made it difficult for Alabama to get off the field on third downs. DeBoer says it comes down to execution, not just from players. Said there’s always things to look back at that could have been better, stresses that it’s important not to overreact.

— Stewart asks about difficulty of balancing fixing Vanderbilt issues and preparing for South Carolina. DeBoer says Sunday was a big day for correction. Says Alabama tries to bank corrective reps, to help when issues resurface down the road. Says Alabama fell behind and had to be perfect, and wasn’t able to do that.

— Stewart asks about Vanderbilt crowd, where Alabama fans made up most of the audience. DeBoer says he appreciates the fans that showed up to FirstBank Stadium.

— Peewee from Grand Bay. Says he’s been hearing “naysayers” talking about players and DeBoer’s gameday fashion choices. Says Alabama fan base doesn’t need those people around. Says real Alabama fans have DeBoer’s back, which draws cheer from crowd at Baumhower’s. DeBoer says Alabama and its players are working hard to make fan base proud.

— Peewee asks DeBoer about NCAA eliminating NLIs and how it will impact recruiting. DeBoer says it won’t affect anything today or tomorrow. Says there will still be binding things for prospects to sign, but he’ll learn more as information becomes more complete.

— Caller says real Alabama fans are all behind DeBoer. Says he and his wife went to Georgia game, and it was “electric.” Asked what it will take to keep that intensity in every game. DeBoer says he loves all the fans, and understands expectations are high in Alabama. Says Alabama got off to hot start against Bulldogs. Says Tide was hesitant on certain things early against Vanderbilt, notes pick six Commodores scored on. Says he believes Alabama players gave everything they had.

OXFORD, Ala. – Officers in Alabama say a missing teen may be somewhere in Atlanta.

Officials with the Oxford Police Department say 16-year-old Jasmine Elizabeth Cordova was last seen early Tuesday morning at her home on 5th Street in the city.

Investigators tell FOX 5 they have a lead that Cordova may have been dropped off at the Atlanta’s Fox Theatre at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.

The teen is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall with a weight of 175 pounds. She has brown eyes and brown hair.

If you have any information that could help find Cordova, call the Oxford Police Department at (256) 831-3121.