This is an opinion cartoon.

‘The Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex?’ This is a joke, right?

Gov. Kay Ivey is the proud face of Alabama prisons. Tattoos and all.

The past, present and future of Alabama’s horror story prison system is Ivey’s legacy. Hell, she’s proud of it. Her name and fingerprints are all over it.

I’ve often thought Ivey was a prisoner of Alabama politics, but hoped she could rise and fly above the political nonsense. I thought she was smarter than the others. Had more empathy for folks. I was wrong. Her legacy could have been so much more. She could have been a champion of all the people for all the right reasons.

Instead, she’s been sentenced to life. In her own prison.

I’ll let my colleague Roy S. Johnson take it from here with an excerpt from his column:

“I cringed at the thought of someone some day lamenting, “Dang, my cousin just got 20 years down at Ivey.”

“Then I shook my head because our governor, who will leave office at the end of her current term, could have scripted a much more noble legacy. She could have been lauded, honored and heralded for so many other accomplishments. Actions that could have improved, elevated — even extended — the lives of generations of Alabamians.

“Instead, her name will be chiseled into the walls of a prison. A prison in this state.”

Read all of Johnson’s column here: Kay Ivey’s legacy gets a much-deserved $1.2 billion life sentence – al.com

Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe

JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @[email protected].