Birmingham City Jail

The Birmingham City Jail was a municipal jail operated by the Birmingham Police Department 425 6th Avenue South in Birmingham's South Titusville neighborhood. It was closed in 2012 after the city forged an agreement with Jefferson County to house detainees at the Jefferson County Jail.

History

The original city jail was housed within the Birmingham City Hall on the southeast corner of 4th Avenue North and 19th Street.

The blues song "Birmingham Jail" became popular in the mid-1920s and was famously recorded by Jimmie Tarlton and Tom Darby in 1927. Tarlton was invited to the dedication ceremony for the new city jail at the present Southside site, which was completed in 1937.

An anonymous letter purportedly from a young Communist Party worker was published in several newspapers in 1930. The writer alleged sexual harassment, rape, mistreatment, brutal beatings and deadly forced labor was rampant in the facility.

Jail superintendent Earl Wilson resigned in 1939. He was succeeded by John Davenport, who served until his death in 1945. Chief C. F. Eddins appointed acting superintendent Fred Dampier to take over. From 1947 to 1960 the warden was Arthur Curl.

During the 1963 Birmingham Campaign of the Civil Rights Movement, demonstrators coordinated by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference attempted to "fill the jails" as a form of peaceful protest against segregation laws they considered unjust. Police officials, under the direction of Birmingham City Commissioner Bull Connor detained demonstrators at numerous alternative locations, including Fair Park.

One of those arrested was SCLC leader Martin Luther King, Jr, whose Letter from Birmingham jail, composed for the most part during his incarceration, became a touchstone document for the movement, answering critics who would prefer to seek justice through the courts rather than by demonstrating on the streets.

Overcrowding at state prisons in the 1970s led to thousands of inmates having to serve their sentences at municipal and county jails. The American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project filed a class action suit which named the Birmingham City Jail as among those which were housing state prisoners without adequate facilities. Judge Sam Pointer, Jr issued an order requiring jail officials to house no more than 36 inmates per dormitory and to improve lighting, ventilation and basic sanitation services for inmates.

The 1994 beating death of Donald Deason in his cell prompted accusations that he had been placed in harm's way as intentional retribution for alleged racial remarks made during his arrest for assault.

Frank Alexander was superintendent of the jail in the 1990s. Julius Walker was jail commander in 2003. In 2012 the director was Chief Kathy Davis. At the time that it was closed, the Birmingham City Jail provided GED preparation and literacy classes, drug and alcohol treatment programs, mental health treatment, domestic violence intervention and life skills classes to detainees.

References

• "Beat Naked Girls in Dixie Jail" (November 8, 1930) The Afro-American
• Miller, Howard (April 22, 1978) "Motion seeks removal of state inmates". Tuscaloosa News
• "Family blames guards at jail for fatal beating of 'good man'. (November 7, 1995) Associated Press

External links

• Birmingham City Jail at birminghamal.gov