December 2021 Group Watch: Jeff Dunn Stepping Down; John Hamm in as AL Prison Commissioner
Alabama Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn will step down from his role at the end of December. Dunn’s tenure was marked by early declines in prison overcrowding, thanks to changes in sentencing guidelines in 2015. The commissioner also achieved a longtime goal this fall, when the legislature approved a plan to build two new men’s prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties. Dunn’s tenure was also driven by a crisis of violence within state prisons that he seemed unable to control. Correctional facilities in Alabama have been understaffed for years, and efforts to increase pay for correctional officers and create separate classifications to improve the situation have had only limited success. The governor has appointed John Hamm (pictured above), deputy secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, to succeed Dunn. Hamm brings more than 35 years of experience in law
