Alabama House Speaker Asks Ivey to Halt Escambia Prison

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter on Thursday asked Gov. Kay Ivey to stop construction of a new men’s prison in Escambia County and called for an investigation into the first of the state’s two planned prisons, in Elmore County. The same day, the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority voted 6-1 to approve the Escambia construction contract, and Ivey rejected the request, the Alabama Reflector reported.

In a letter to the governor, Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, wrote that the Alabama Department of Corrections had “lost all control” over the Elmore project and called the commitment “an unacceptable risk to public funds and a failure of fiscal responsibility,” according to the Reflector. He noted that Ivey is “exiting office in less than three months.” Alabama Daily News reported that he also criticized the 24-hour public notice for the meeting.

The Legislature approved $1.3 billion in 2021 for two 4,000-bed prisons, the Reflector reported; Alabama Daily News put the 2021 authorization at $1.2 billion. The Elmore facility, named for Ivey, has reached $1.25 billion by itself, the Reflector reported. Ledbetter wrote that it is more than $635 million over budget and a year behind schedule, according to WSFA; Alabama Daily News reported more than $500 million over. Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, a member of the finance authority, put the total for both prisons at about $2.2 billion, the Reflector reported.

The Department of Corrections said in October that the contractor missed an Oct. 15 deadline for the Elmore prison, that the facility was more than 85 percent complete and that completion had slipped to between March and May 2027, WSFA reported. The authority voted Oct. 6 to issue more than $190 million in bonds for Escambia, which WSFA said would bring that prison’s cost close to $1 billion.

Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, who chairs the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee, voted against the contract, the Reflector reported. He said the state should delay Escambia because of the department’s administrative posture at Elmore and because possible contract problems there could cost the state more.

Albritton voted to proceed. He argued that labor, materials and pandemic-era costs have pushed up prices on large projects nationwide, and asked whether waiting would only raise costs further, according to the Reflector. Alabama Daily News quoted him as saying he did not know that anything criminal was done and that calling the Elmore project a failure is “a little bit strong” with the prison about 85 to 90 percent complete.

Ivey said in a statement that the vote “gives the green light for building construction on the Escambia facility to go forward,” WSFA reported, and that she is “someone who refuses to kick the can down the road.” She said problems in the prison system had been neglected for far too long, according to the Reflector, which described the letter as the first major break between the governor and legislative leaders over the prisons. The vote came five days before the general election.