Alabama to pay $623 million for new prison in Elmore County.

Alabama is to pay Montgomery-based Caddell Building $623 million to construct a brand new jail in Elmore County, in keeping with a contract that etails the phrases of the deal to construct the 4,000-bed jail for males. APR obtained the redacted contract Friday.

That contract, which was signed April 15, is for the development of the jail that’s to offer enhanced medical and psychological well being companies, Gov. Kay Ivey’s spokeswoman, Gina Maiolo, informed APR in a message. 

The state Legislature in October 2021, permitted a $1.3 billion jail development package deal which incorporates plans for 2 new 4,000-bed prisons for males, to be positioned in Escambia and Elmore counties. The Legislature additionally permitted transferring $154 million from the Normal Fund for the brand new prisons, and the usage of $400 million in federal COVID help to assist pay for the brand new prisons, a controversial transfer that opponents have stated was a misuse of these funds. 

APR was the primary to report land in Elmore County was being sought to construct one of many new prisons. 

The U.S. Division of Justice within the federal authorities’s lawsuit in opposition to Alabama alleges unconstitutional therapy of incarcerated males, together with a scarcity of primary well being care and psychological well being care in understaffed and lethal amenities. 

In beforehand launched stories, the Justice Division detailed systemic issues of abuse from guards, corruption, rampant drug use, violence, overcrowding and understaffing in Alabama’s prisons. The DOJ in these stories states that whereas new jail amenities may assist in some areas, new buildings received’t absolutely tackle the state’s widespread, lethal issues in its prisons.

Supporters of the jail development plan say the brand new amenities are wanted to switch some present dilapidated prisons and to handle considerations the federal authorities spells out within the lawsuit, however critics of the plan fear new prisons received’t clear up the systemic issues in Alabama’s prisons. 

Regardless of COVID lockdowns that prevented visitations, medicine nonetheless managed to enter Alabama prisons leading to violence and a rash of doubtless overdose deaths. Correctional officers’ use of violence in opposition to prisoners has additionally led to a number of arrests and the latest indictment of 1 workplace for allegedly beating three compliant males with a picket baton. 

Gov. Kay Ivey’s earlier plan, which known as for brand new prisons to be constructed by the non-public jail firm CoreCivic and leased to the state, fell by way of when CoreCivic was unable to safe financing for the deal, following a lot strain in opposition to monetary companies from investing in prisons.