ALABAMA (WHNT) — The State of Alabama had plans to spend $1.3 billion to build two new prisons, but state officials learned this week the first project is expected to cost $1.08 billion.
Alabama Rep. Rex Reynolds, who chairs the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee, said the initial cost estimate was clearly too low and tied to the initial plan to lease the prisons. But prison construction costs have risen at a concerning rate, he said.
“We feel like yesterday, we did hear a final price and that was a $1.08 billion and certainly that is much higher than early speculations that we had, I think that was $675 million,” he said. “It’s tough to focus on that early number because that number kind of came out of that lease number … of course, with inflation, we continue to see that rise.”
“For example, concrete pricing tripled on this project, so did labor associated with that,” Reynolds said.
The first prison project in Elmore County is slated to have 4,000 beds in medical and mental health facilities and open in 2026. The medical facilities construction has also contributed to the higher costs, Reynolds said.
House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said he has confidence in Alabama Department of Corrections Director John Hamm, but he also has concerns about the project’s cost.
“Given one cost, cost estimate, and it’s almost double what that cost estimate is, so it’s certainly concerning to me,” Daniels said. “I do want to give the department an opportunity to address some of my concerns and so we will be sending over a letter and requesting a meeting with the commissioner to have these conversations in person, so we can fully understand what happened.”
“I know there is a need there and I want to give the commissioner an opportunity to address it … so that way we can really understand and we’re able to better inform our constituents whether it’s construction or other underlying things that we didn’t know,” Daniels added.
The State of Alabama is currently facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice over its prison conditions.
Legislators and Gov. Ivey agreed in 2021 to build two new men’s prisons. Reynolds said that given how much the first project is expected to cost, the legislature will be asked to find more money in the coming years for the construction of a second prison, including money from the state budget and the prospect of issuing bonds.
“Like I say, we’ve got the cash allocated here, but certainly we’ve got to go back in front of membership, colleagues and convince them on moving forward on a second prison, that’s just part of the conversation,” Reynolds said.
Daniels said at this point, he would not support a second prison construction project at a similar price tag.
“The cost and the inflation has impact on some of that, but I don’t think it has as much impact to where it’s double the price, right, the amounts have doubled. It’s very concerning to me. It’s very fiscally irresponsible for us and we really need to look at this with an open mind.”
Reynolds said they did make some progress in bringing costs down.
“We received a briefing back in May of this year, and we actually saw a number a number that was higher than the number we saw yesterday,” he said. “So we asked them to go back to the table and dive into their contracts and see if they could get some of that stuff down. They did that, but it’s certainly a large number. It’s very concerning to us, but we do feel like the condition and the age of the two facilities there in Autauga County, we’ve got to move forward with that project.”
The Alabama Department of Corrections reported at the end of July that it was housing just over 20,085 inmates in a prison system with a designed capacity of 12,115.
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