Women Behind Bars Tuesdays at 10p|9c

Jackie Alexander


Inmate Name: Jacqueline (Jackie) Alexander Charge: First-Degree Murder Sentence: Life Prison: Southern Correctional Institution, North Carolina Jackie Alexander, the eldest of five children, was born in 1962 in Charlotte, North Carolina. When Jackie was a young teen, her mother died of cancer. Her inner turmoil became a big problem, and she began a lifelong pattern of acting out her anger. In the seventh grade, Jackie was failing her classes, and was suspended for attacking a classmate. Jackie and her four siblings moved in with their grandfather and his wife in Kannapolis, a southern textile mill town 25 miles north of Charlotte. Jackie says her grandfather would often get drunk and physically abuse her and her siblings. After high school, she got pregnant at age 18 by her boyfriend, and gave birth to a baby girl she nicknamed Twink. During a short-lived marriage to another man, she had a son named Mark. Then she met Thomas Hammond, a well-respected handyman who lived in the same community. Jackie and her children moved in with Hammond, but the relationship between the two of them remained platonic. Jackie turned to crack to manage her feelings. Her drug addiction led to a life of crime that had her in and out of jail for almost 10 years. During this time, her children would either stay with relatives or with Hammond who continued giving Jackie and her kids anything they needed. But according to Hammond’s sister, Jackie and Hammond often argued. On June 14, 1998, 36-year-old Jackie was trying to straighten out her criminal record. She bought some crack from a local drug dealer and smoked it early in the day. At about eight that evening, while her daughter was out, she asked Hammond to drive her to pick up her 15-year -old niece, Shawna. Her son’s friend, Derek Wilkes, joined them. Derek often hung around the house with Jackie and her kids. But Hammond, who was like a father to Jackie’s family, didn’t approve of Derek’s crush on Shawna. Later that evening, Jackie and Derek both claim they were hanging outside on the porch with Shawna. Thomas had just gone to bed when Jackie allegedly left the front porch and entered Thomas's bedroom to ask him to drive her niece home. According to Jackie, Thomas was angry that she had waited until such a late hour to ask him to drive, and Thomas made insulting remarks about Jackie’s daughter and niece. Jackie claims that when her protective instincts towards her family kicked in, she lost her temper and things got out of hand. The three-hour torture finally ended when Hammond was fatally stabbed with a knife. But Jackie and Derek gave different versions of who had the knife. They disposed of Hammond’s body by burning it inside the trunk of his car. Police found the car and the body early that morning and traced the license plate to Hammond. Upon arriving at his house, they found Jackie asleep. According to Jackie, Derek was there as well. They also found blood throughout the house along with other evidence. Detectives brought Jackie and Derek to police headquarters and questioned them separately. After a day of interrogation by police, Jackie confessed to her part in the killing, but blamed Derek for Hammond’s death. On June 14, 1998, Jackie and Derek were charged murder. Derek pled guilty and testified that Jackie was the killer at her trial. Jackie’s attorney presented several reports by psychiatrists who examined her and said abuse haunted her past. But the jury did not buy that defense and Jackie was found guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibilty of parole. In prison, Jackie is working towards an associate’s degree in office systems technology. Because of her good behavior, she merited the highest paying job in the prison…washing inmate laundry at $1.00 a day. Jackie says she wrote a letter to the Hammond family asking for them to forgive her, but has never received an answer.