Alabama’s New Prisons Planned For Bibb, Elmore and Escambia Counties
Alabama officials announced Thursday the location of three new regional prisons planned for Bibb, Elmore and Escambia counties.
In a statement, Governor Kay Ivey’s office said the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) will now enter into negotiations with two private developer teams who will build the facilities and lease them to the state. ADOC will still operate and staff the prisons, but the private developers will be responsible for long-term maintenance. Officials said they will announce financial details of the project in late 2020, after final negotiations.
The new prisons will replace several existing male facilities, which are chronically overcrowded, understaffed and violent. ADOC is currently under a court order to improve conditions and hire roughly 2000 correctional officers. It is also in negotiations with the US Department of Justice to address violence among both inmates and staff.
“It is no secret that the ADOC is facing real, longstanding challenges, most of which are decades in the making and rooted in inadequate, crowded, and structurally failing facilities,” ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn said in a statement. “Building new facilities that improve safety and security for staff and inmates and allow for effective inmate rehabilitation is the right and only path forward.”
Some lawmakers have voiced concerns about a lack of transparency and a lack of involvement in the construction planning process. Many critics have also argued that new, larger prisons will not address the root issues facing the prison system. In a statement Thursday, the advocacy group Alabamians for Fair Justice said the state should focus more on sentencing reform and alternatives to prison.
“A prison plan focused only on building more cages will only serve to feed the prison industrial complex, resulting in the disproportionate incarceration and exploitation of even more Black and Brown people to pad the pockets of private prison corporations,” the group said.
In Thursday’s announcement, the governor said the new prisons will provide more space for programming and recreation, and the buildings will be designed with more cells, rather than open dormitories found in many existing facilities. She said the ADOC faces $1 billion in deferred maintenance costs to continue using its current male prisons.
According to the plan, CoreCivic, a national private prison company, will build two of the new facilities, in Elmore County and Escambia County. The prison in Bibb County will be developed by Alabama Prison Transformation Partners, a group that includes Birmingham-based construction company BL Harbert International. Previously, officials said the new prisons will house between 3000 and 4000 inmates.
Editor’s Note: BL Harbert International sponsors some programming on WBHM, but our news and business departments operate independently.
Venezuela’s exiles in Chile caught between hope and uncertainty
Initial joy among Venezuela's diaspora in Chile has given way to caution, as questions grow over what Maduro's capture means for the country — and for those who fled it.
Sunday Puzzle: Pet theory
NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer plays the puzzle with KAMW listener Daniel Abramson of Albuquerque, N.M, and Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
Inside a Gaza medical clinic at risk of shutting down after an Israeli ban
A recent Israeli decision to bar Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups means international staff and aid can no longer enter Gaza or the West Bank. Local staff must rely on dwindling supplies and no international expertise.
Iran warns US troops and Israel will be targets if America strikes over protests as death toll rises
Iran's parliament speaker warned the U.S. military and Israel would be "legitimate targets" if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as threatened by President Donald Trump.
Bob Weir, guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at 78
For three decades with the Grateful Dead and three more after the group ended following the 1995 death of his bandmate Jerry Garcia, Weir helped build and sustain the band's legacy across generations.
Nationwide anti-ICE protests call for accountability after Renee Good’s death
Activist organizations are planning at least 1,000 protests and vigils this weekend. Officials in major cities cast Saturday's demonstrations as largely peaceful.
