Small Town Message Speaks Loudly To Governor Bentley and Alabama Legislature

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
Date: Apr 25 2016 3:27 PM

Small Town Mayor Message to Governor Bentley and Legislators on Prison Closures

As the Mayor of Clio, Alabama I was recently made aware, courtesy of Senator Billy Beasley, that Easterling Correctional Facility, located in Clio, was on the chopping block, as a part of the Governor’s Prison Transformation Initiative, under SB287 of this legislative session.  Funny thing is, no one from the Governor’s office or the Department of Corrections has made any contact with the City about the financial impact it would have on us, or the local economy and workforce .  As I began to dig a little deeper into the matter, it soon became apparent that the so called transparency in Montgomery was extremely clouded, and that the interests of the Governor and some of our legislators are not beneficial to people living and working in southeast Alabama.

The Plan as it’s called is to close Tutwiler Prison for Women, and build a new 1,200 bed facility for females. I have no problem with that idea, and as an ex-deputy sheriff, I have been Tutwiler and can attest to the aging and dilapidated condition of that facility. From there “The Plan” starts to get cloudy. The next part states to close 12 out of 14 high security male facilities, and replace them with 3 regional 4,000 bed facilities, yet fails to disclose which ones. According to the Alabama DOC website (http://www.doc.state.al.us/docs/MonthlyRpts/2016-01.pdf) there is only 5 male close (high) security facilities housing 7,227 inmates.

There are 9 prisons listed as housing 11,665 medium security male inmates. By my math – that’s 18,892 inmates who need a bed, and we are going to build 12,000 new beds. Seems to me we are short by 6,892 beds. The third part of the “The Plan” states that they are going to renovate and re purpose the remaining facilities to align with the legislative intent of recent prison reforms. Again they fail to disclose which facilities will remain open.

 

The Ask as it’s referred to in the plan is an $800 million dollar bond issue to design and build the 4 new facilities. In my simple, rural mind I am trying to figure out just what type of, and how many buildings we are talking about here?. I know several farmers who just constructed new mega (60x600 ft.) extremely climate controlled chicken houses and you can get 4 for less than $2.5 million. One house that size is nearly double the floor space the of a current metal building dorm at Easterling. Of course they don’t have  concrete floors, bathrooms and do have different HVAC systems which would add some expense, but $800 million dollars?  None of that information has been shared either. At any rate, it is to be paid back at a rate of $50 million per year for 30 years. The Governor stated that this can be paid back with no additional funding from the General Fund, and be paid for with savings from within the Department of Corrections. The “Operational Savings” claims to be able to recoup $21 million dollars in reducing correctional officer’s overtime, another $8 million by reducing security staff. It also states that it will save $9.5 million by reducing support staff, $10 million in healthcare contracts, and reduce it’s logistical tail (more support staff) by $1.5 million. So there’s the Governor’s $50 million dollar annual payment, straight off of the backs of the dedicated corrections officers, administrative assistants, maintenance staff,  vocational and GED instructors (Wallace College will actually lose or have to reabsorb employees) and medical personnel. Unless you are willing to uproot your families and move 2 hours away to the closest planned mega prison- you will be unemployed. Oh wait, we need that money for the bond payment, so you will probably unemployed anyway. How is putting hundreds of people out of work help our economy? In all likelihood the Governor’s projected numbers will fall short, which will entail cutting funding for other state agencies and programs to make up the difference, ala borrowing from the education trust fund.

It also asks for authority to pursue additional project delivery methods to include design-build . In layman’s terms this is where one contractor designs and builds the project. I would assume since the Governor has all of his costs figured out, $800 million dollars worth, that he has a friend in the construction business who came up with that estimate and is looking for a contract. I was told by the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that this would not violate any bid law, as there are very few construction companies bonded to complete such a big project. I’d be willing to bet there is more than one construction company in the state that would love to have this deal, if they only knew about it. Further, let’s just hope it’s a construction company is actually from Alabama, and that they pay Alabama workers, who pay Alabama  taxes, and spend their leftover dollars in Alabama  businesses.

The third part of the plan is “The How”. It states that evaluation teams, comprised of state/industry experts who are going to do workforce/community impact studies. No one has asked my City how it will affect us, or our ability to pay back millions of dollars in loans and bonds we have taken out for infrastructure improvements to accommodate the prison’s needs, and still remain in compliance with ADEM regulations. No one has addressed me, or our City Council about any of this. I can also tell you that I have personally spoken to several correctional officers, and support staff personnel at Easterling , and they have no idea there is a chance they will become unemployed in the next 2-3 years if this bill passes. The so called “expert” evaluation teams , who we still haven’t seen, are supposed to do structural assessments, as well as access and land suitability studies. Easterling became operational in 1990, and is one of the newest prisons in the state. I was told by one legislator, who is for the closings, that prisons were only designed to last for 40 years. If ours has been open for 26 then shouldn’t it have 14 years of life left?  Geographically, Easterling is right in the middle of the southeast corner of Alabama, which makes it extremely accessible.  It sits on a 200 acre parcel, and currently has 30 acres fenced.  In my mind that would mean the State has 170 acres left that could be fenced and or utilized. So someone please tell me why the State is looking to waste more money purchasing more land in another part of the state when we can utilize land it already owns.

I do realize that prison overcrowding is a huge problem for the State of Alabama. The legislature has done some things in recent sessions that are designed to address this issue. Among the many changes, we have re-written our criminal code, restructured sentencing guidelines, adopted justice reinvestment policies, instituted guidelines and sanctions for probation and parole violators, opened day reporting centers and other re-entry programs, all designed to reduce recidivism and relieve overcrowding. Many of these changes took place within the last 6 months, and I do not believe we have given them a chance to work. It is my personal opinion that these programs will help immensely, but construction of new prisons and renovations of existing facilities are also required to address the issue.

I was elected to serve the citizens of Clio, Alabama, and have the full support of the Council to proceed with any legal remedies we may have, to stop this “fast track” bill from closing our prison. We, and our legal team, stand prepared to defend our position in every way, in every court, at every level we can file in.  

The City of Clio is not alone in this battle, as we have knowledge that the other towns, counties, and water authorities effected by these proposed closures have all expressed their willingness and desire to follow the City of Clio’s lead. We will not go quietly into the night, and we will use every media outlet we can access. We intend to publish roll calls (which are public record) from the Senate and the House until our concerns are addressed. Upcoming elections may not go as planned when the voting families of these inmates find out they are going to spend more money and have to drive half way across the state to see their relatives at a new “regional” facility.

SB287 flew through the Senate, and now is going to a full House vote.It is with all sincerity we hope we can defeat this bill, at least until more disclosure is made on behalf of the State as to the specific details regarding the closures and realignments . To all of the involved elected and appointed state officials, at bare minimum, you owe it to all of the loyal officer’s who risk their lives every day inside those walls.

Sincerely,

David Grice 

Mayor, City of Clio

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