Kim Chandler
FILE - In this Thursday, April 23, 2009, file photo, a correctional officer walks inside a fence past inmates at Donaldson Correctional Facility near Bessemer, Ala. The Alabama prison system says it has asked the FBI to help investigate a violent altercation at the facility on Jan. 30, 2021, that hospitalized two officers and two inmates, including a well-known prison rights activist. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File) February 09, 2021 - 6:51 PM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Three Alabama correctional officers are on leave as the FBI helps to investigate a prison altercation that hospitalized two officers and two inmates, including a well-known prison rights activist, the state prison system said Monday.
FBI launches probe after Alabama inmate activist injured February 9, 2021 at 10:24 pm FILE - In this Thursday, April 23, 2009, file photo, a correctional officer walks inside a fence past inmates at Donaldson Correctional Facility near Bessemer, Ala. The Alabama prison system says it has asked the FBI to help investigate a violent altercation at the facility on Jan. 30, 2021, that hospitalized two officers and two inmates, including a well-known prison rights activist. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Three Alabama correctional officers are on leave as the FBI helps to investigate a prison altercation that hospitalized two officers and two inmates, including a well-known prison rights activist, the state prison system said Monday.
From The Tribune staff reports
BESSEMER The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office announced the death of two people incarcerated at Williams Donaldson Correctional Facility.
Dewitt Searight, 77, died of natural causes, according to Coroner Bill Yates. Searight had been hospitalized since Jan. 20, 2021, at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center due to complications from a previous stroke. He died on Feb. 8. Searight was serving a life sentence for a murder in Butler County.
On Feb. 9, David Lee Franklin, 31, died at the prison. Franklin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance out of Jefferson County, was found unresponsive on the floor of his cell and was pronounced dead on the scene. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death.