Alabama officials said June 30 that they will move forward with plans to build two supersize prisons, despite a bond sale falling more than $200 million short amid a volatile market and pressure from activists.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Alabama's Corrections Institution Finance Authority hoped to sell $725 million in bonds for the construction project, but was only able to sell $509 million. The bond issue is a key funding piece for the mega-prisons' $1.2 billion construction price tag.
State Finance Director Bill Poole told reporters that Alabama had hoped to "sell a little bit more," but officials were pleased with the result. He noted the outcome would not affect the construction and the state still expected opening the prisons in 2026.
To make that a reality, Poole said that the state will look at options for the rest of the money, including seeking more funding from the Alabama Legislature or conducting another bond issue when conditions are more favorable.
Although the state did not meet its funding goals, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called the bond sale a "significant and positive step forward in our prison construction process."
"Our job certainly is not done, however, and we will continue to take steps in the coming months and years to ultimately improve Alabama's criminal justice system," she added in a statement.
Several Factors Affected Prison Bond Sale
The AP noted that while state officials blamed the result on a volatile market, a group of activists and impact investors had urged buyers to stay away from the bond offering.
"They didn't just fall short. They fell well, well, well short," said Eric Glass, an adviser to Justice Capital, an investment fund that joined the call for a boycott.
He acknowledged that Alabama did face a volatile market but there also is a recognition among investors that prison construction "is not a good thing to be investing in."
"I think it fell short because this has been a year-plus campaign around uplifting and centering the idea that building prisons, whether private or public, shows a lack of creativity," he told the AP. "It shows inhumanity and cruelty, and we need to start thinking broadly and holistically around the things that that lead to incarceration and improve those."
Feds, State Disagree on Need for Mega Prisons
Alabama officials are pursuing construction of new prisons to replace aging facilities, believing that to be a partial solution to the state's longstanding corrections' troubles.
However, the U.S. Justice Department has an ongoing lawsuit against the state over prison conditions and has cautioned that new buildings will not solve the problems.
Critics of the construction plan argue that the state is ignoring the bigger issues — prison staffing levels and leadership — to focus on buildings.
The two prisons are planned to be in Elmore and Escambia counties and, if built, would house up to 4,000 inmates each. The two facilities would replace older prisons that are scheduled for closure.
Dana Sweeney, a statewide organizer for Alabama Appleseed, said he was surprised to hear the state is not changing plans despite being $200 million short of the amount needed.
"There are a lot of things that $200 million can be spent on, and I would be very, very interested to hear how lawmakers would react to being asked for hundreds of millions of dollars more," he said in speaking to the AP.
The Justice Department has sued Alabama over a prison system that it characterizes as riddled with prisoner-on-prisoner and guard-on-prisoner violence. In addition, the federal agency noted in an earlier report that dilapidated facilities were a contributing factor to the unconstitutional conditions but wrote "new facilities alone will not resolve" the matter because of problems including culture, management deficiencies, corruption and violence.
Alabama officials counter by saying modern facilities will be safer for staff and inmates and help the prison system provide better health and vocational education services.
Poole said those services are "very difficult to deliver in dangerous old facilities."
"We need to have safer facilities for the benefit of both the incarcerated population and for staff. It is [hard] to recruit staff to work in dangerous conditions," he added.
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