BESSEMER, AL William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility View
The prison opened as the West Jefferson Correctional Facility in 1982.[1] On January 12, 1990, corrections officer William E. Donaldson was stabbed and killed by an inmate. The prison was later renamed in honor of officer Donaldson.[citation needed] Originally the prison had a capacity for 700 inmates in dormitory housing and 16 inmates in individual prison cells; the capacity increased as expansions opened.[1] In 1996, according to Joe Hopper, the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, the system's prison guard shortage was the most acute at Donaldson during that year. In that year the prison housed around 1,400 prisoners, with 207 prison guards watching them.[2] Donaldson was the main setting of the documentary film The Dhamma Brothers, which chronicles the establishment of a Vipassana meditation program for prisoners.
William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility Contact Details
Mailing to William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility Inmates and Staff
Inmate Visiting Days and Hours
| Day of Week | Hours |
|---|---|
| Saturday | 8am-12:40pm |