Alabama officials have approved a plan to fund $1.3 billion in prison construction and renovations using COVID-19 relief money from the American Rescue Plan, among other sources. The state plans to build a pair of 4,000-bed “megaprisons” for men, to be located in Elmore and Escambia counties, plus a 1,000-bed prison for women in Elmore County, and to renovate several existing state prisons.
The funding bills for the program state that contracts for the design and construction of the two prisons for men may be awarded to any person that was part of a team qualified by the Alabama Dept. of Corrections under a June 2019 request for qualifications, with responses that were due by Aug. 2, 2019, or the state may issue a request for design-build proposals.
