Prison Reform Debate Continues Following Riots
Governor Bentley and corrections officials are asking lawmakers to approve an $800 million bond issue to reform the state's prison system.
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Governor Bentley and corrections officials are asking lawmakers to approve an $800 million bond issue to reform the state’s prison system.
It would close most existing correctional facilities and build three new men’s prisons and one women’s prison. The plan still hasn’t made it through the the legislature. The string of issues in Atmore is raising concerns for some lawmakers that overcrowding and the prisons’ layouts are not just a hazard for the inmates, but also the staff.
Sen. Cam Ward, (R) Alabaster said, “The way the facilities are laid out, the overcrowding of the facilities and the under staffing of the number of officers we have, it’s just a powder keg waiting to explode…if you don’t replace them you are going to continue to see some of the violence in those walls that we see today.”
A big question with the reform plan is how to pay for the new facilities. State leaders say savings on operating the new prisons compared to the old ones would pay those costs. The proposal is expected to be back in a senate committee this week.
