Alabama Speaker demands pause on second prison project

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter cited a $635 million budget overrun in a letter sent Thursday to Governor Kay Ivey, asking her to stop work on a second new men's prison in Escambia County. The correspondence arrived hours before the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority met to vote on funding for that specific project. Ledbetter argued that the state should not commit to a second facility while the first one, located in Elmore County, remains in disarray.

The Speaker detailed a July 20 meeting with Governor's staff and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace. During that session, officials informed him that the completion date for the Elmore County facility would shift from October 2026 to a window between March and May 2027. Ledbetter described the project management as a complete and total chaotic mess. He noted that state officials appeared afraid to press the contractor, Caddell Construction, too hard for fear the company might abandon the project entirely.

Ledbetter stated that legislative leadership had not reviewed a single change order or site rendering for the Escambia project. The finance authority had called the meeting only two days earlier. The Speaker wrote that the lack of documents meant the state did not know exactly what it was being asked to pay for. He called this process the opposite of transparency. The authority is composed largely of executive branch officials who report directly to the governor.

The department announced on October 16 that Caddell missed its final deadline for the first prison. The authority is withholding $14.2 million in liquidated damages from the contractor. Officials said the Elmore County complex is 85% complete. Ledbetter pointed out that the Legislature authorized $1.3 billion for both facilities in 2021. He estimated the current total cost for both projects at well over $2 billion, with the second prison alone projected to cost close to $1 billion.

The second prison project involves new bonds approved in August for up to $195 million. Those bonds sold on October 6 for $190,190,000. The Alabama Department of Finance identified Regions Capital Advantage, a division of Regions Bank, as the buyer. Ledbetter warned that the governor will leave office in less than three months. He argued that the next administration would be left to manage the financial and logistical fallout of the construction failures.

The Speaker made two specific requests in his letter to the governor. He asked for an immediate halt to construction in Escambia County. He also called for a full investigation into the management of the first facility. Ledbetter acknowledged that Alabama needs new prisons but stated that the current approach is flawed. He said taxpayers deserve a clear accounting of the failures before the state takes on another major financial obligation.