Alabama
Alabama paying $250,000 to mother of man fatally beaten in prison but admits no wrongdoing
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.
Alabama
Alabama Trending Towards Securing Commitment from Elite Recruit
Nothing is set in stone just yet, but it’s looking like Alabama is going to build on its trenches.
According to On3 / Rivals’ National Recruiting Reporter Sam Spiegelman, the Crimson Tide are trending toward receiving a commitment from four-star 2027 interior offensive lineman Ismael Camara.
Should Alabama nab the talented recruit out of Gilmer, TX, it would be the second high-ranked interior lineman of the 2027 class.
Earlier this season, the Crimson Tide had secured a commitment from Jatori Williams, the four-star lineman out of Phenix City, AL, and one who is the fifth ranked player at his position in the country.
Camara spoke with Spiegelman and revealed that he, along with 20 other recruits will be in Tuscaloosa for the LSU game – a game that holds such importance.
Not only that, he spoke on the relationship that he holds with offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, and how that relationship resonates with him.
“Coach Kap told me two things when we first talked — he has the best job in the world and that all the things he wants from his players are passion, a good attitude, maximum effort, being a good teammate, being prepared and available, and being coachable. That requires zero talent.”
He then went on to say how much the persistence in maintaining that relationship is something that he will always hold onto.
“I appreciate him investing in me like that, and I am trying to get better to live up to the standard at ‘Bama.”
The “Standard” is a real thing, and it’s not something that the brass take lightly. Nick Saban spent 17 seasons implementing a culture of greatness and players that have the dog in them to be great.
So Kalen DeBoer and his staff don’t want to lose sight of it. It may have been in question for a little, but for the time being, what you’re seeing is what you’re getting.
But the “Standard” is something that means a lot to Camara too, and it’s what has set apart Alabama from other schools.
“When we got into the facility and saw all the nattys, the SEC championships and Heisman Trophies, I really had the butterflies,” Camara said. “The way they treated each other and the way they treated me — it was not just an honor for me to be there, it was an honor for them to be there. They practiced like that. They operated like that. They hung together like that. That was when I really started to understand what makes Alabama ‘Bama,’”
Aside from it being a big game on the schedule, it’s a big game for the coaches take make sure the people they’re bringing in for the future know that the staff’s future is just the beginning for these young men.
Alabama
Alabama man charged with threatening synagogues, mosques
A Needham, Alabama man has been charged by federal prosecutors with making threats to rabbis and imams across the South.
Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker faces a charge of an interstate communications threat after investigators say he made multiple threatening calls and messages to Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.
The threats were made to rabbis in Alabama and Louisiana, an imam in Georgia, a church in North Carolina and more.
According to court documents, agents discovered multiple firearms in Shoemaker’s home as well as a suitcase containing ammunition and papers listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of religious leaders and other prominent figures.
Shoemaker told agents he did not intend to carry out an attack, but engage in “psychological warfare.”
An FBI agent attested that Shoemaker came to the department’s attention after making a series of threats including to a Mountain Brook rabbi earlier this month.
“I want you to die because you want the death of us,” Shoemaker said during one call. “You want the West to die off.”
The FBI agent also noted a 2024 threat from Shoemaker to an Islamic center in Louisiana, and a threatening message to a Georgia imam earlier this year.
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama — and frontrunner for Alabama’s next governor — has recently drawn attention to the Muslim community, calling “radical Islam and Sharia Law … the greatest national security threat facing the United States.”
He also called Islam “fundamentally incompatible with our Western values.”
“So, wake up America. The Quran instructs Islamists to fight Jews and Christians, along with anyone else who doesn’t believe in Allah,” Tuberville said. “Simply put, Radical Islam teaches that it is righteous to kill Christians—[that] it’s righteous. There is no peaceful coexistence with this type of people. None.”
Alabama
How to Watch Alabama vs North Dakota: Live Stream NCAA College Basketball, TV Channel
The Alabama Crimson Tide will face the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in this college basketball matchup on Monday at Coleman Coliseum, and you can catch all the action with ESPN Unlimited.
How to Watch Alabama vs North Dakota
- Date: Monday, November 3, 2025
- Time: 8:00 PM ET
- Channel: SEC Network+
- Stream: ESPN Unlimited (watch now)
The Alabama Crimson Tide tip off the 2025‑26 season with plenty of momentum and transition under coach Nate Oats. After making a deep NCAA Tournament run last year, the Tide reload with young lead guard Labaron Philon Jr. stepping into a starring role and rising forward Keitenn Bristow bringing hype on the front line. Alabama’s roster also adds size and versatility through transfers like Noah Williamson, while returning shooters and athletes across the lineup support Oats’ up‑tempo, high‑spacing system. With their core freshened and expectations still high in the SEC, the key question is: can they take the next step and turn deep-tournament potential into a title-contending run?
The North Dakota Fighting Hawks enter the 2025‑26 season with a blend of rebuilding and hope under seventh‑year head coach Paul Sather. Fresh off a 12‑21 season (5‑11 in the Summit League), they’ll lean heavily on senior guard Eli King for leadership while integrating seven newcomers into the rotation. The schedule opens with a tough road game at Alabama Crimson Tide, setting the tone early for a season shaped by growth more than expectation. With only one returning starter, chemistry will take time—but if the freshmen acclimate and the Hawks tighten defensively, they could surprise in Summit League play.
This is a great college basketball matchup that you will not want to miss; make sure to tune in and catch all the action.
Live stream Alabama vs North Dakota on SEC Network+ with ESPN Unlimited: Start your subscription now!
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