Low number of corrections officers in Alabama prisons cause for concern

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Prison Jail

The Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Finances and Budgets-General Fund met in Montgomery at the Alabama Statehouse for legislative oversight of state general fund agencies ahead of the legislative session. The Alabama Department of Department of Corrections (ADOC) has just 1,732 corrections officers to guard the state’s 20,643 inmates.

ADOC is the second largest agency in the state general fund (SGF) budget. Alabama has an antiquated budgeting system where there are two budgets: the SGF and the education trust fund (ETF).

ADOC Commissioner John Hamm was appointed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey about 13 months ago. He previously served as the Deputy Secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and as head of the State Bureau of Investigation. Hamm addressed the budget committees about his request for an additional $122.4 million in funding from the SGF for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins on October 1. The Department of Corrections appropriation in 2023 was $594,647,303. ADOC received $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Hamm said that the largest component of the ADOC budget is personnel.

The lack of corrections officers is a public safety issue. Most importantly, it means that there are fewer guards to protect inmates from their fellow inmates. It is also a problem for the state legally as a federal court has already ordered ADOC four years ago to hire 2000 more guards – and the state has failed to accomplish that task.

“One of our court orders says we must hire x number of security staff,” Hamm said. “I don’t know how we are going to make them come to work.”

“This is also an issue with other states,” Hamm said.” Texas and Florida have gotten real aggressive on compensation. They are now well ahead of us. Recruiting corrections officers is coming from here. We are competing with sheriffs and police departments. Our compensation is lower and the benefits. Some of them are paying in the $50s and even $60s. We are 50% lower than that.”

Hamm said that there have been some signs of progress though, recently.

“We had about eight quarters of decline. We leveled off last quarter,” Hamm said, suggesting that this may indicate a turnaround.

Hamm said that the Department had 688 vacancies for corrections officers, with just 1732 guards presently on staff. ADOC also has 1168 administrative workers with 264 vacancies.

One legislator suggested that ADOC simply train prisoners how to be corrections officers to fill the vacancies.

Hamm said that there are APOST standards for corrections officers that would prevent ADOC from hiring former prisoners as guards.

ADOC is building two new mega prisons.

Hamm said that the mega prison in Elmore County has poured its foundation pad, but now they have to put in the drains and plumbing before construction can begin.

“It is on our Draper campus in a 300-acre site,” Hamm said. “The general contractor – Caddell construction – is on site. Soon there will be 800 workers out there.

Hamm suggested that sinkholes on the site and drainage had slowed the project.

“Site work is ongoing at Escambia County,” Hamm said. “We don’t have a general contractor for Escambia yet.”

Hamm predicted that the state would be able to hire a general contractor once they finalized the design at Elmore. That design will then be duplicated at Escambia, saving money.

Two legislators asked about the controversial decision to award the prison healthcare contract to a new company that appears to simply be an old company in several pieces of litigation due to walking out on prison healthcare contracts in other states.

Rep. Arnold Mooney asked if YesCare was simply Corizon reorganized.

“YesCare is a new company,” Hamm insisted.

Hamm told the legislators that there are only five companies in the country that provide large-scale healthcare services for prisons and that four of those submitted bids. A committee was tasked with evaluating the four bids, and they recommended two companies. Hamm said that it was his decision to accept the bid from YesCare.

“I made the choice of Yes Care,” Hamm said.

The Department of Justice is suing the State of Alabama, claiming that the conditions in Alabama’s prisons are so bad that imprisonment in the state’s prisons constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and as such imprisonment under the conditions found in ADOC is unconstitutional.

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