Two new excessive force lawsuits allege shocking and brutal claims of excessive force by  Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) Lieutenant Roderick Gadson bringing the total number of excessive force lawsuits filed against him to 13. These are just the latest in a litany of examples of ADOC’s refusal to address widespread, unchecked, and sometimes lethal abuse in their prisons and instead regularly protecting correctional officers who are accused of excessive force by keeping them employed in prisons.

State Refusal To Hold Gadson and Other Officers Accountable 

No correctional officer better illustrates Alabama’s refusal to hold corrections officers accountable better than Roderick Gadson:

• Two New Lawsuits Filed: In the last two months, two additional lawsuits were filed against Officer Gadson for using excessive and violent force against incarcerated individuals, bringing his total to 13 separate excessive force lawsuits. Lawsuit claims against Gadson include assaulting an incarcerated man that was handcuffed in the infirmary and assaulting another incarcerated man so severely he needed to be intubated. 
• Fatal Violence Without Discipline: As shown in the award-winning and Oscar-nominated documentary film, The Alabama Solution, Gadson was involved in the 2019 beating death of Steven Davis, an incarcerated man. That case resulted in a $250,000 settlement paid out by the state, but Gadson kept his job. 
• Promoted, Not Fired: Gadson was promoted twice after the fatal beating of Steven Davis—rising to the rank of Lieutenant—and continues to supervise officers inside ADOC facilities.
• Nearly $1 Million Cost to Taxpayers: Prior to the most recent lawsuits filed, Gadson’s actions alone have cost Alabama taxpayers nearly a million dollars in paid settlements and legal defense fees, and those costs will only increase with the two newest lawsuits.

A recent research report,  “Settling For Brutality: An Unchecked Culture of Violence in Alabama Prisons,” shows ADOC routinely protects and promotes officers facing repeated excessive force lawsuits, shielding them from accountability while taxpayers pay millions to cover the cost of their legal defense and settlement payments. 

Key findings from the report included:

• $68 Million Defending Failed Prisons: Since 2020, ADOC has spent $68 million of taxpayer money defending Alabama prisons in court, including class action and individual lawsuits. Twenty million of that total was used exclusively to defend individual officers accused of excessive force, covering legal costs and paid settlements.
• Consuming State Funds: Over the last five fiscal years (FY21–25), ADOC accounted for more than 63% of all spending from Alabama’s General Liability Trust Fund—consuming more legal defense dollars than all other state agencies combined. ADOC litigation costs during this five-year period were nearly five times higher than the prior five years.
• Promotions Over Accountability: Research identified 12 ADOC officers most frequently named in excessive force lawsuits. All 12 officers remain actively employed by ADOC, earning an average of $153,000 annually (including overtime) while  supervising incarcerated people and training new staff—even after repeatedly racking up settled abuse claims.
• ADOC settles roughly 75% of all excessive force lawsuits against its officers: By settling out of court without findings of fact, ADOC avoids public trial scrutiny, shields abusive officers from accountability, and passes the bill directly to Alabama taxpayers without taking any action to ensure unlawful conduct by its staff does not continue.