Tuscaloosa Advocacy Group Delivers 1,600 Masks To County Jail

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A grassroots group of Tuscaloosa residents delivered 1,600 masks for those incarcerated in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Monday after collecting nearly 21,000 for the cause. This comes roughly a month after a well-attended protest at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse against Sheriff Ron Abernathy, who was sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center in November for not providing data relating to the spread of the coronavirus in the county jail.

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Mask drive organizer Emily Altman said the group will accept disposable mask donations at Grace Presbyterian Church, located at 113 Hargrove Road, or through its Amazon wish list, with the goal of continuing to take masks to the jail during the pandemic.

“We are overwhelmed by the response from the community,” she said. “We have enough masks for the next few weeks but we will keep accepting them and launch the drive again in February to collect even more. Organizers are asking Sheriff Ron Abernathy to change jail policy so that every person incarcerated in the jail gets a new disposable mask every day.

She then said the current jail policy is to give inmates a new mask on Tuesday and Friday each week.

“Well, not having enough masks shouldn’t be an excuse for the two a week policy anymore,” said Mike Altman, another organizer of the drive.

To learn more about the group, visit its mask donation Facebook page.

Ryan Phillips is the community publisher for Tuscaloosa Patch. A Tuscaloosa native and graduate of the University of Alabama, Phillips is an award-winning journalist, columnist and editor with previous stops at the Starkville Daily News, Weather.com, the Associated Press, the Birmingham Business Journal and the Anniston Star. To contact Phillips with news tips or advertising inquiries, email ryan.phillips@patch.com.