Alabama
Alabama sheriff requests FBI probe into alleged sex assault at youth detention facility
Alabama sheriff officials have asked the FBI to investigate possible civil rights violations after two youth detention employees were charged with sexually assaulting minors at a facility, authorities said Monday.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department was notified of “potential criminal behavior” at the county’s youth detention facility on Wednesday, according to Assistant Chief Deputy Wesley Richerson. The sheriff’s department immediately opened an investigation and discovered that two detention officers had allegedly sexually assaulted two different boys on separate occasions, Richerson said.
That same day, sheriff’s deputies arrested Kentavious Miller, 32, and charged him with first-degree sexual abuse, according to Richerson. Deputies then arrested another detention officer, Labradford Jamell Armistad, 35, on Friday and charged him with seven counts of first-degree sodomy.
“This is an extremely disturbing situation, and to be frank, I’m absolutely appalled at what the evidence has revealed in this case,” Richerson said during a news conference Monday.
Richerson noted that the investigation is still ongoing. While the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department remains the lead on the probe, Richerson said the sheriff’s department requested the FBI to open a criminal investigation into possible civil rights violations.
Both the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and state prosecutors were also contacted about the investigation “because these allegations involve victims that are in custody,” Richerson said.
“Simply put, we will not tolerate those who abuse their abuse their positions to harm others, and we will ensure that all suspects are held accountable in this case,” Richerson added.
Youth detention officers accused of sexual assault
During the investigation, the sheriff’s department learned that around Dec. 15 a “male juvenile detainee was sexually abused by a detention officer inside the facility,” according to Richerson. Investigators then obtained statements and evidence that led to the arrest of Miller.
Charging documents obtained by news outlet AL.com and television station WSFA alleged that Miller had entered a cell assigned to a 14-year-old boy, approached him while he was lying on a bed, and sexually assaulted him.
Investigators also found evidence that another minor was “sexually assaulted while he was previously incarcerated inside the facility,” Richerson said. He alleged that Armistad sexually assaulted a “male juvenile detainee while he was in his custody.”
Both Miller and Armistad are no longer employed at the youth detention facility, according to Richerson. Before their arrests, Miller had worked at the facility for about five months while Armistad had been employed at the facility for about five years.
Miller was taken to the Montgomery County Detention Facility after his arrest on Wednesday and was initially held on a $7,500 bond, according to WSFA and AL.com. He was later released on bond.
Armistad remains in custody without bond, Richerson said.
Youth detention facilities across the U.S. under scrutiny
The charges in Alabama are the latest in a wave of cases and lawsuits involving youth detention facilities across the country. Allegations of abuse and neglect have sprung up in several states in recent years, including Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois.
In a report released last year, the U.S. Department of Justice examined substantiated incidents from 2013 through 2018 and found that most juvenile detention staff who sexually victimized children faced no legal repercussions for their actions.
An eight-month investigation by USA TODAY’s Network of Ohio newspapers last year exposed years of oppressive lockdowns, deadly violence, and chronic understaffing in the state’s youth prison system. Earlier this year, two teenagers filed a class-action lawsuit against a Kentucky youth detention center and its administrators, claiming that they were subjected to oppressive isolation, denied basic hygiene, showers, and medications, and forced to listen to a toddler song.
Back in May, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 95 people who claimed that staff at youth detention centers throughout Illinois sexually abused them from 1996 to 2017 when they were between the ages of 12 and 17. Months later, the Department of Justice concluded that five Texas juvenile detention centers violated children’s constitutional and civil rights.
The department said the detention centers — which housed children between the ages of 10 and 17 — exposed children to excessive force, failed to protect them from sexual abuse, and deprived them of basic needs. The centers also discriminated against children with disabilities by denying them “reasonable modifications to complete programs required for their release,” as well as equal opportunity to education, according to the department.
Contributing: Tami Abdollah and Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; Alex Gladden, Montgomery Advertiser; Bianca Moreno-Paz, Austin American-Statesman
Enjoy two nights of free dance at Stars on the Riverfront
Alabama Dance Theatre will present Stars on the Riverfront on June 20 and 21, at 7:30 p.m. each night at Riverwalk Amphitheater in Montgomery.
In Alabama’s coastal landscape, two Alabama bridges quietly stand among the longest in the United States.
A new World Atlas ranking of the 11 longest bridges in the United States is a reminder that not all crossings are so forgettable. These are the spans that stretch the idea of a “quick drive” into something else entirely.
As World Atlas notes, the country’s roughly 617,000 bridges are mostly routine. The ones on this list “swallow the horizon,” turning open water into a roadway that can take ten or fifteen minutes to cross.
Louisiana dominates the ranking, but Alabama also makes its presence known with two entries: the Jubilee Parkway and the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge.
Jubilee Parkway: Alabama’s 7.5-mile bridge ranks No. 7 among longest in US
Ranked at No. 7 on World Atlas’ list, the Jubilee Parkway carries Interstate 10 across Mobile Bay as a pair of parallel viaduct bridges stretching 7.5 miles between Mobile and Spanish Fort/Daphne. Opened in 1978, the four-lane crossing is often called the “Bayway.”
The World Atlas says the bridge takes its name from Mobile Bay’s “jubilee” phenomenon, when marine life is pushed into shallow water, making it unusually easy to catch.
General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge: 6.08-mile span ranks No. 10 in U.S.
The General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge ranks No. 10 on the World Atlas list, stretching 6.08 miles across the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta northeast of Mobile as part of Interstate 65.
World Atlas says the bridge is better known locally as the “Dolly Parton Bridge,” a nickname inspired by the paired arch design that, locals say, resembles a distinctive silhouette when viewed from certain angles.
Completed in 1980, it features twin parallel weathering-steel arches and concrete viaducts carrying four lanes over the wide, marshy delta.
Longest bridges in the U.S. Full World Atlas ranking
World Atlas ranks these as the longest bridges in the U.S.:
- Lake Pontchartrain Causeway: 23.83 miles
- Manchac Swamp Bridge: 22.8 miles
- Louisiana Airborne Memorial Bridge: 18.2 miles
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel: 17.6 miles
- Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge: 11 miles
- Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge: 8.26 miles
- Jubilee Parkway: 7.5 miles
- San Mateo-Hayward Bridge: 7 miles
- Seven Mile Bridge: 6.79 miles
- General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge: 6.08 miles
- Norfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge: 5.8 miles
Jennifer Lindahl is a Breaking and Trending Reporter in Alabama for USA TODAY’s Deep South Connect Team. Connect with her on X @jenn_lindahl and email at jlindahl@usatodayco.com.
The iconic wooden roller coaster at Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure is officially back in action, along with some seasonal deals. This Father’s Day, dads can get into the park for free to ride the restored coaster, Rampage.
It’s not the only attraction returning; this Halloween, Alabama Adventure is bringing back not one but two haunted houses for the first time since the late 2000s.
If you can’t wait until then, the Bessemer park will be open late on Saturdays and end with a pop of color. Adventure Summer Nights will have the park open until 9:30 p.m. once a week with a fireworks show to round off the night.
And as an apology to their loyal visitors, people who bought a daily ticket before June 10 are welcome to come back and try their new and improved attractions for free. If you’re a season pass holder, don’t feel left out—pass holder discounts are doubled for the month of July.
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
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