AL Political Reporter: “Kenneth Traywick, also known as Swift Justice, an incarcerated activist and co-founder of the justice non-profit Unheard Voices OTCJ, said in an interview with APR on Sunday that the demands brought forwarded by incarcerated individuals are not unreasonable, as Ivey suggested, and would benefit public safety if implemented—using the repeal of the Habitual Offender Act as an example.
“The Habitual Offender act is what made the prisons overcrowded in the first place, and we have come to that conclusion together; even our legislature has said that,” Traywick said, speaking from a wall phone at Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore. “If it was wrong when we realized it was the cause of it, it was wrong many years ago. We need to right that wrong.”
Building new state prisons and disregarding grievances from incarcerated individuals is not the solution, according to Traywick, who said that those orchestrating the general strike and protest are attempting “to offer solutions in legislative change” to better the correctional system in the state.
“Alabama is not saying it’s unwelcome, she’s saying that,” Traywick said. “She has just shut them out, or attempted to shut them out, and said ‘we don’t care what you got a problem with’ and ‘we’re going to build new prisons, and that’s going to fix the problem.’ That’s not the answer. We are trying to offer solutions in legislative change to fix that problem.””