Carla Crowder

2026 Advocate of the Year Award Honoree

Carla Crowder is the Executive Director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a research and policy advocacy nonprofit focused on challenging mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Alabama. An attorney, Carla has won release for dozens of individuals originally sentenced to die in prison, represented individuals on Alabama’s death row, and successfully advocated for parole for numerous others. Under her leadership, Alabama Appleseed has tripled in size and become the statewide leader in Second Chance sentencing policy, advocacy, and direct legal and reentry services.

Prior to attending law school, Carla worked as a newspaper reporter covering criminal justice, prisons, child welfare, and the ways government intersects with impoverished communities. Her journalism earned multiple honors, including the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Death Penalty Information Center, and she has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2024, she was named Alabama’s Woman of the Year by USA Today, and in 2025 she was inducted into the Florence (Ala.) Walk of Fame.

"A book should be written on the impact that Carla has had on the social justice movement in Alabama and other parts of our country over the past four decades. It would be difficult to find anyone in Alabama who is doing more than Carla to fight against the systemic injustice of our system. In a place where positive change is as difficult as Alabama, Carla is leading a dynamic effort to make a difference both at the individual client level and for our entire justice system.”