Governor Bentley’s Prison Proposal Concerns County Officials
Governor Bentley’s Proposal to consolidate 14 of Alabama’s 16 prisons into four mega prisons has some County officials worried about how the proposed initiative could effect their economy. Elmore and Bullock County officials spoke out about what the initiative could mean for their towns.
Bullock County Commissioner Johnny Adams says that if Governor Bentley’s proposed prison initiative is passed, and the Bullock County Correctional Facility is closed, it could have a major impact on the city and county.
The prison employs about 180 employees, with a pay roll of about 10 million dollars. Adams says “a lot of that money flows back through the economy in the city of union springs and in Bullock county, so losing that large amount of money would definitely be detrimental to our county”.
He also says the Union Springs Utility Board, gets about 17% of its annual income from the prison. He’s concerned that if the lose the income from the prison, it could cause the company’s rates to sky rocket. Fellow Commissioner Don Larkins, echoed the same sentiments, saying “well it’ll be a devastation if the prison here shut down.”
Troy Stubbs, Chairman of the Elmore County Commission says that with 5 correctional facilities in the county, they are also tremendously impacted by the prison system. Stubbs says that “we have about 700 jobs, we house the most prisoners in the state of Alabama, and in addition to that the payroll for that is about 37 million dollars that impacts our county”
Since the initiative was first proposed last year, Stubbs says that he and a task force been watching closely and have been proactive. He says that “if the process does proceed and there are 4 super prisons or mega prisons created in the State of Alabama then we would want to protect our jobs by being one of the selected locations”
Larkins hopes that Bullock County would also be considered as site for one of the 4 correctional facilities. He says “we’ve got land, we’ve got at least 2 hundred and something acres up there where the prison stands right now….and what they have to offer us is, we need jobs. We need jobs here in Bullock County”
