Where Donaldson Releases Go
ADOC identifies William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility as a close-custody facility in Jefferson County with vocational, educational, and rehabilitative programs and a death-row unit for inmates who need to be incarcerated in the Birmingham judicial area. A person leaving Donaldson is leaving state prison custody, so the release path differs from a Jefferson County Jail release.
ADOC's public inmate search is useful while the person is currently incarcerated. It can expose state release-date fields such as Minimum Release Date, County Jail Time, Good Time Received, Good Time Revoked, Parole Consideration Date, Parole Status, Sentence Date, Time Served, Total Term, and sentence type. After a person leaves ADOC custody, ADOC says the public search contains only current inmates and historical data is not available online. A missing result after release is therefore expected and does not prove there was no ADOC sentence.
Source view from the manifest: ADOC's Donaldson facility page is the facility-specific state source for this prison.
Confirm a Donaldson Release
Use a state-prison workflow for Donaldson. The county Tyler jail portal is not the release record for a sentenced ADOC inmate unless the person was temporarily held in Jefferson County jail.
- Search ADOC by AIS number when available; ADOC says AIS takes precedence and is the quickest way to locate a current inmate.
- If AIS is unknown, search first and last name, keeping in mind ADOC displays a maximum of 50 records at one time.
- While the person is current, read Minimum Release Date and Parole Consideration Date separately. Minimum Release Date is the earliest scheduled date for release to probation or end of sentence; parole consideration is a board process date.
- If the person no longer appears, use ADOC's written public-record request process for historical release or discharge records.
- Check ABPP hearing results, ABPP public information, Alabama VNS, and court records to determine whether the release was parole, end of sentence, probation, revocation-related, or another state disposition.
| State release source | What it can answer |
|---|---|
| ADOC inmate search | Current custody, AIS match, sentence fields, minimum release date while current. |
| ADOC public records | Historical release or discharge records after the person drops from public search. |
| ABPP and VNS | Parole/supervision status, hearing outcomes, and ADOC-sentenced notification. |
Donaldson Records and Contact
For release/discharge records, ADOC's Contact page is the governing records path. ADOC says public-record requests must be submitted in writing on ADOC Form 23-A with the processing fee to the Public Records Coordinator under Administrative Regulation No. 23. Questions may go to public.records@doc.alabama.gov or 334-353-3883.
| Facility | William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility |
|---|---|
| Type | ADOC close-custody state prison |
| Facility address | 100 Warrior Lane, Bessemer, AL 35023-7299 |
| Facility phone | 205-436-3681 |
| Primary agency | Alabama Department of Corrections |
| ADOC mailing address | Alabama Department of Corrections, 301 S. Ripley Street, P.O. Box 301501, Montgomery, AL 36130-1501 |
| ADOC records questions | public.records@doc.alabama.gov or 334-353-3883 |
| Central Records | 334-353-9738 |
For parole records, ABPP has a separate public-record request process at public.records@paroles.alabama.gov. For VNS questions, Alabama lists Victims@AlabamaAG.gov and 800-626-7676. Those channels are state release channels; they are not county jail records.
A Donaldson records request should not be framed as a Jefferson County jail release request. Include the person's AIS number if known, full name, date of birth if appropriate for identification, facility name, sentence or court case information if known, and the specific release or discharge date being requested. If the request is really about parole status or a granted-but-not-yet-released situation, ABPP is the better agency. If the request is about sentence-time calculation or a Jefferson County sentencing order, the court record may be the necessary companion record.
About Donaldson
Donaldson is in Jefferson County geographically, but release confirmation is statewide. ADOC sentence computation can include county-jail time, good time received, good time revoked, total term, and consecutive or concurrent sentence structure. Alabama correctional incentive time is governed by Alabama Code section 14-9-41 and is sentence-specific; the research did not support a blanket Alabama "85%" release rule for all inmates.
If the Donaldson record connects back to a Jefferson County conviction, the court file can explain the sentence, county-jail time, amended sentence, revocation, or probation order. The clerk or Alacourt record may be needed when a release date changes because county-jail time, new cases, or sentence modifications alter the state calculation.
Donaldson's close-custody status also affects how readers should interpret a county jail record. Jefferson County may have held the person before sentencing or while awaiting transfer, but the county booking release is not the same as discharge from Donaldson. A county Tyler Release Date can mark movement out of the jail to ADOC. The later state release must be confirmed through ADOC and state supervision records.
VNS and Parole Checks
Alabama VNS applies to offenders convicted in Alabama and sentenced to ADOC prison; it is not for pretrial county-jail cases. For a Donaldson inmate, VNS can be a notification layer, while ABPP hearing schedules, hearing results, and public-information contacts help explain parole consideration, a grant, a denial, a continuance, or a granted-but-not-yet-released situation.
ABPP materials are especially useful when a parole result and physical release do not line up on the same day. The Public Information Unit handles public questions about eligibility, hearing dates, hearing results, and people granted parole but not yet released. Hearing-result posts can document a grant, denial, or continuance, but they do not replace ADOC's custody record or the parole certificate/release processing path.
ADOC Search Limits
ADOC's current-inmate limitation is the main risk on a Donaldson release page. If a person disappears from ADOC search after a known Donaldson stay, the public website may simply no longer carry historical data. The fallback is not the Jefferson County jail roster; it is ADOC's written public-record request, ABPP records if supervision applies, Alabama VNS for eligible ADOC-sentenced notifications, and the sentencing court record for the order that created or modified custody.
Before release, save or compare the fields that explain why the date may move: Minimum Release Date, Parole Consideration Date, County Jail Time, Good Time Received, Good Time Revoked, Total Term, Time Served, and sentence type. ADOC defines Minimum Release Date as the earliest scheduled date for release to probation or end of sentence, and the research notes that it can change when disciplinary, new-case, or sentence information changes.