LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – A former Limestone Correctional Facility inmate detailed horrific conditions behind the bars of one of the state’s most notorious prisons. 

A former inmate, who chose not to reveal his name, is speaking out about unstaffed tiers lacking enough officers, which has led to violence and murder inside one of Alabama’s largest prisons.   

“There were not enough police officers in the prison system that could do anything to control these people,” he said.  

After his release earlier this year, the former inmate says that he was desperate to speak with News 19 about what he saw while locked up inside. 

“When I went to prison, I saw all kinds of killing where officers beat inmates and put them in lock up and don’t bring them out until they heal,” he said.  

He says all the violent acts were led by the rampant use of drugs by the prisoners. 

“They are so strung out on dope,” he explained. “Some of the officers are scared for real and they just let them do what they want to do.” 

In December last year, after the arrest of four Limestone Correctional officers for promoting contraband, News 19 spoke to a former prison officer named Stacy George.

George said that although the state has made efforts to improve conditions, drugs are still very easy for prisoners to obtain. 

“The officers aren’t running that prison anymore. They haven’t been for a while and everybody there is in danger,” said George.  

The former inmate says Governor Kay Ivey needs to step in and get things under control. 

“I don’t know if it’s going to get better or not, but I hope and pray that it does,” he says.  

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice notified state officials that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) had demonstrated an inability to control the flow of contraband into and within the prisons. The ADOC has refused our request for comment.