Growing inmate populations prompt states to look for more prison funding

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A plan to build a 3,000-inmate prison in Arkansas hit a roadblock in the state Senate on Tuesday, while the Alabama Legislature gave final approval to ensure funding for another mega-prison.

The Republican governors in both states have proposed building new prisons as a partial solution to problems in the state corrections system.

The proposals come as Republican governors in several states grapple with how to increase funding for overcrowded facilities.

Arkansas prison plan stumbles

The Arkansas Senate voted 19-10 in favor of a bill that would have given state authority to spend up to $750 million for the prison. The bill needed at least 27 votes to advance to the House.

The vote was a setback for the prison that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and corrections officials have said is needed to ease state prison overcrowding, which has caused a large number of inmates to be housed in county jails.

The project has faced a backlash from local leaders who said they were blindsided by the decision last year to purchase 815 acres (330 hectares) for the prison site. Opponents have questioned the viability of the site and how the state will be able to afford the total $825 million estimated cost of the facility.

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The state has set aside about $405 million for the project, but has not identified the source of the remaining funds.

“I cannot imagine letting go of almost a billion dollars without any detail specifics,” said Republican Sen. Bryan King, an outspoken opponent of the measure.

It wasn’t clear whether the Senate would take up the proposal again. Sanders’ office vowed to keep pushing.

“Governor Sanders and a bipartisan majority of legislators agree: it’s time to fund the Franklin County prison, fund public safety, and fund the future of Arkansas,” Sanders’ spokesperson Sam Dubke said. “The governor will continue to work with the legislature to get this appropriation passed.”

Alabama prison legislation advances

The Alabama House of Representatives voted 72-14 for legislation that would give the state the ability to borrow an additional $500 million for prison construction.

Republican Rep. Rex Reynolds, the chairman of the House budget-writing committee, said the increased borrowing capacity will ensure the state has enough money to finish a second 4,000-bed prison in addition to one under construction. Reynolds said the state hopes to pay for the prison out of money in state coffers, but that increased borrowing capacity could be tapped if needed.

“This is a bill we hope we do not have to use, but it’s a safeguard,” Reynolds said, adding that the state will not issue the bonds “unless it’s absolutely needed.” The bill now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature.

The Alabama Legislature in 2021 approved a $1.3 billion prison construction plan to build two supersized prisons as a partial solution to the problems in its violent and overcrowded prison system. However, the cost of building one prison, and the medical and mental health facilities that accompany it, rose to more than $1 billion, potentially jeopardizing plans to build the second facility.

Some Democrats questioned the decision to put so much money into prison construction and said the state has other pressing needs in health care, education and mental health.

“I’m kind of disturbed about the state of Alabama investing billions of dollars in prisons and rural hospitals are closing. Education is 43 in the nation,” Rep. Thomas Jackson, a Democrat, said.

Alabama’s new 4,000-bed prison now under construction in Elmore County, Alabama is expected to open in 2026.

___ Associated Press Writer Kim Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama