Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) commissioner John Hamm told lawmakers on Tuesday that the hotly debated $1.25 billion Elmore prison construction is not scheduled to be completed for another two years, while the planned Escambia County prison is on hold until funding can be secured.
During the budget hearing, Hamm updated the audience on several ADOC projects, including ongoing recruitment and retention efforts and the progress of Alabama’s planned mega prisons.
The Alabama Legislature approved $1.2 billion in funding for two 4,000-bed facilities in 2021 in response to a 2020 lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning poor prison sanitation, violence between inmates, excessive force from staff and sexual assault.
The initial cost of the Elmore facility was $623 million. However, the final price of the construction was $1.1 billion, with an additional $2.4 million for ADOC to furnish the facility, bringing the total to $1.25 billion. Hamm said the construction is scheduled to be completed in May 2026. Hamm also told the committee that the number was still the operating figure and that the state had the money to pay for it.
State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) inquired about the Escambia facility and where ADOC stood with the new prison’s construction.
“We put out an RFQ (Request for Quote) for design services,” Hamm responded. “You know, we’ve selected the company that’s going to do the design work, which is the company that did Elmore’s design work, but outside that, going forward, you know, that’s where we’re going to have to know more about finances before we can go forward. I think in the legislation y’all passed, you do design, build; that’s what the delivery method at Elmore is, or we can do a standard Title 39: design, bid, build, or we could do a hybrid. But, we got to know how much money we have to actually move forward on that.”
Albritton asked Hamm how much money would be left over after the Elmore prison construction. Hamm responded by saying he didn’t know.
“Just to refresh and let everybody know, the legislature put federal money of about $400 million,” Albritton said. “…Then we took state monies of $135 million [and] put that in. Then we went to market and, because of circumstances and such, we went out to bond $750 million, we were only able to let out $500 million. So, if we took the 500, plus the 400, plus the 135, we have the money there to meet the [Elmore] facility plus some.”
Albritton said the legislature holds roughly $300 million for the Escambia facility, plus an additional $200 million available for “possible borrowing.” Hamm did not say if that would cover the total cost.
Hamm clarified that the Escambia facility would be the exact same size prison as Elmore, minus the health care and mental health additions. Albritton also received information during the meeting that the legislature had approximately $300 million for the Escambia prison and $200 million in “possible borrowing.”
State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) inquired why ADOC needed to contract a designer for a prison identical to Elmore.
“Everything under the dirt can be different because it is a different site, so the design professionals, they are going got have some modifications,” Hamm responded.
Some lawmakers seemed annoyed at the entire process, both by the dramatically increased cost of the Elmore facility and by the perceived slowness with which the construction is being handled.
“This is a big bite, and it’s going to be a stretch,” Albritton said. “My point in this is time is not our friend in this. The longer we work, the longer we try to stretch this out, the more difficult it becomes, both at the federal level and the state level. So, I would encourage DOC to move forward as swiftly as we can while we have the money that actually has a factor that’s there. It’s not that we changed anything; it’s that the inflation and other costs ran from the $635 million up to that [$1.1 billion], so time is what has cost us on that. So, we’ve got to move this a little faster. We’ve got to pick up the pace on some of this.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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