The state is seeking a project manager for its planned prison in Escambia County, a major step for the 4,000-bed facility that’s been delayed by funding shortages.
The request for qualifications for a project manager was posted by the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority last week.
“This is a major move forward,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, told Alabama Daily News. He’s the Senate General Fund budget chairman and on the prison finance authority. The new prison is planned for his district on state-owned land next to a 97-year-old prison still in operation.
Albritton and his House counterpart, Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, said it’s still unclear how much the new south Alabama prison will cost.
The state has a design contract with Goodwyn Mills Cawood for a two-phase plan for the prison. State leaders previously said breaking the project into two 2,000-bed segments would be more economically feasible. Design work is about 65% complete, according to the new RFQ.
“We’re having design work done now and we’ll get this project manager on board to oversee it before we go out with an RFP on the prison itself,” Reynolds said.
Hoar Project Management has been providing some program management services at Escambia to ensure consistency between it and the Gov. Kay Ivey Correctional Center, which is nearing completion in Elmore County, according to the RFQ.
In 2021, Alabama lawmakers passed legislation and a $1.2 billion spending plan to build two 4,000-bed prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties and shutter some old facilities. By earlier 2024, the cost of the first prison in Elmore County had ballooned to more than $1 billion, leaving officials searching for more funds for the Escambia County site.
They’ve previously said the Escambia prison is expected to cost less than the Elmore site because Escambia will have fewer specialized medical and mental health facilities.
The 2021 prison legislation allowed the state to bypass the traditional bid process and have a design-build contract, where a single entity performs both the design and construction under one agreement. That’s what was selected for Elmore County. In Escambia, they’ve opted for the standard design-bid-build, where designers and contractors are hired separately.
“We had some challenges in the design phase on (the Elmore prison), so we’re making sure we’re addressing everything on the front end,” Reynolds said.
The Alabama Department of Finance told Alabama Daily News in a written statement, “the state has considered a variety of options for the procurement of construction services.”
“The state intends to select and make public its intended course of action for a competitive process soon,” the state said.
A construction manager will be responsible for planning, development and pre-construction activities and oversight of the eventual construction, which will require another contract. Responses to the RFQ are due Nov. 26.
The Escambia prison may be constructed via multiple packages and contractors, or a single construction contract.
“The Department of Finance is evaluating the best financing plan and next steps to move the project forward,” it told ADN.
The budget leaders have said there is now upwards of $600 million on hand for the second prison, but more is still needed.
“We’ll have an adequate amount to get started on this, once we get all the legal stuff finalized,” Albritton said.
Reynolds said he expects additional appropriations in the 2027 and 2028 General Fund spending plans. Borrowing money is also an option.
The state has so far borrowed $500 million for the prison projects. Legislation approved by lawmakers gave the state the ability to borrow another $500 million, but the authority hasn’t triggered that option.
Staffing, inmate numbers
In recent General Fund budgets and supplemental appropriations, Albritton and Reynolds have set aside money, tens of millions at a time, for Escambia. For example, there has been in recent years a $40 million conditional appropriation for ADOC hiring efforts, if it meets quarterly staffing benchmarks. If it doesn’t, that money goes to prison construction. That’s what’s happened so far, though that may change in 2026.
“The Alabama Department of Corrections has made, and continues to make, substantial strides in hiring correctional officers,” finance’s statement said. “Based on these hiring trend increases, the FY 2026 conditional appropriation may now be available to the ADOC under legislative terms. The ADOC, Department of Finance, and Legislative Fiscal Office are currently in collaborative discussions.”
The two new mega prisons won’t add 8,000 beds to ADOCs capacity, but largely replaces existing space in outdated facilities. The 2021-enacted House Bill 4 said that once the Elmore and Escambia prisons were open, the current Elmore prison, which is on the same site as the new one, and Stanton and Kilby prisons would be closed within a year. Together, those three prisons held nearly 3,900 inmates in August. It also outlines other later closures.
The state’s inmate population has risen from 17,864 in October 2021 when the prison plan was approved to 21,121 in August. Current prisons were designed to hold 12,115 people.