ADOC Studies Aging Prisons

The Alabama Department of Corrections is studying the state’s aging prisons, some of which could one day be replaced with a few “mega-prisons” housing up to 4,000 inmates each.

The agency has a nearly $500,000 contract with an engineering and architecture firm to study Alabama’s aging prisons.

Results could be used to make the case for new, larger facilities, a proposal Gov. Robert Bentley said he will again push after it failed in the regular session this year.

Bentley in February first pitched to lawmakers his plan to shutter most of the state’s 16 crowded and outdated prisons by borrowing $800 million to build three mega-prisons housing up to 4,000 male inmates each and one women’s prison. Bentley’s office says the concept will be back before lawmakers next year.

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