Alabama trying to use COVID relief funds for new prisons.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session next week for lawmakers to vote on the construction plan as well as a sentencing and supervision bill.
Ivey said Alabama is risking a federal takeover of the prison system.
The proposal would tap up to $400 million from the state’s share of American Rescue Plan funds to help pay for the construction.
The Department of Justice last year sued Alabama , saying the state prisons for men are “riddled with prisoner-on-prisoner and guard-on-prisoner violence.”.
New prisons might help, she said, but there needs to be broader changes, otherwise it’s, “still going to be the same problems in the new buildings.”. »