MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The construction on the first phase of a proposed 4,000-bed prison in Escambia County is expected to take three years and begin on May 6 of 2025, according to a design contract obtained by Alabama Daily News through an open records request.
How the project will ultimately be funded remains a matter of uncertainty.
The prison is one of two 4,000-bed prisons that the Alabama Legislature dedicated $1.2 billion toward in 2021, with construction on the other – dubbed the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex in Elmore County – well underway.
The contract, which is with the architecture and engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood for comprehensive design and related services for the Escambia County prison project, was approved in November by the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey.
The cost to the state for the design contract, however, remains undisclosed, with an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesperson telling ADN Thursday that releasing its cost could impact the state’s competitiveness during the ongoing construction bidding process.
“The design fee for the Escambia Facility is based on square foot cost, total square feet, and a percentage fee,” an email from the ADOC said. “Release of the total fee, at this time, could impact the competitiveness of the bid for construction delivery. Subcontractor proposals, including the referenced page 30, are likewise redacted for the same reason. These amounts may be disclosed individually after bidding and construction contract execution.”
While heavily redacted, the contract does include a number of details on the proposed prison, perhaps most notably details on a two-phased approach to construction that would allow the prison to operate at half capacity after the completion of its first phase.
“It would (open after the completion of the first phase), and that brings in the operational component of it as we understand from ADOC,” said Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Hazel Green, who chairs the House budget committee, speaking with ADN Thursday. He is on the finance authority.
“But again, that decision has not been final. I think we’ll wait and see what the funding opportunities are and see what the costs (are).”
According to the contract, the first phase of construction would include 27 total buildings, 10 of which would be used for housing for an inmate capacity of 2,056. Of those 27 buildings, 24 are duplicate designs of buildings at the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, which the state will pay a discounted rate on for design fees.
According to the contract, 45% of the unknown cost to the state will be for construction documents, 25% for design development, 20% for contract administration, and 10% for schematic designs.
Also included in the contract is a proposal for demolition services to demolish the nearby Fountain Correctional Facility, which is adjacent to the proposed site for the prison on the northwest intersection of Fountain Prison Drive and Alabama State Route 21.
The project was not designed to secure Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, or LEED, according to the document, a certification for structures that meet certain energy efficiency standards.
Enabling site construction, the initial steps of construction projects, will commence on May 6, 2025, and be complete on May 4, 2026, per estimates from Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, with general constructed slated to begin on Jan. 27, 2026 and be complete by Jan. 22, 2029.
Finding funding for the entirety of the Escambia County prison project remains a concern among lawmakers, particularly after the cost for the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex skyrocketed from its initial estimate of $623 million to more than $1 billion. However, lawmakers have remained committed to seeing the project through to completion, among them Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, Senate General Fund committee chairman and member of the prison finance authority. The new prison is in his Senate district.
Albritton has been a vocal advocate for getting the needed funding to the Escambia County prison to start construction as soon as possible, and told ADN that the two-phased construction approach could be helpful, should the state not have the money up front for the full 4,000 beds. But he’s still hopeful it will be built in one phase.
“The goal here is to use the funds that we have to get started,” Albritton told ADN. “Time is not on our side here.”
The state and ADOC are fighting multiple legal battles about the crowding and conditions of prisons and a lack of staffing. Meanwhile, the state’s prison population is growing. In September, ADOC was housing 20,383 inmates, according to its most recent monthly report. That’s up from 17,769 three years prior when lawmakers approved the new prison construction.
“We cannot lallygag on this,” Albritton said.
The Escambia project has been expected to be smaller than the Elmore prison because it won’t have some of the specialized medical facilities. Albritton said this week it may be even smaller because of some things officials have learned in the construction of Elmore.
“We’re negotiating to make sure that we keep this price in line with or less than the Elmore facility,” Albritton said.
Albritton has remained committed to seeing the project through to completion, as has his fellow budget chairman Reynolds, who told ADN the state had a solid starting point to commence on the project’s first phase.
“I think we’re committed to it, this administration is committed to it, we feel pretty good, we’ve got just a little less than $600 million in cash that can now be moved toward the Escambia prison,” Reynolds said.
The state has so far borrowed $500 million for the prison projects.
“We’ve got the ability to go back to the bond market if we need to, so we’ll just figure that out as we go forward. I do think the bond market atmosphere will get better and it might be an opportunity to go back there and capture some more money.”
While most state contracts for architectural design have to go before the Legislative Contract Review Committee, where their potential prices are disclosed, this one is exempt under state law because it was entered into by a public authority, not a department.
Alabama Daily News’ Mary Sell contributed to this report.