By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
A group of House members pitching an alternative prison plan held a public hearing of its own on Tuesday, starting just minutes after the House Judiciary Committee finished its hearing on Sen. Cam Ward’s $845 million plan.
That group, headed by Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and bringing together an interesting grouping of liberal and conservative advocates, believes that Ward’s plan is too expensive and doesn’t address the state’s primary prison problem – overcrowding.
As an alternative, they have a plan, sponsored by Rep. Allen Farley, that would focus more on renovating and utilizing local, county prisons and devoting more resources to upping corrections officers and mental health services.
“What they’re trying to do (with Ward’s bill) is, quite frankly, irresponsible,” Morrow said. “It saddles the state with huge debt and it doesn’t address the biggest problems. We believe that there are better ways to do this, by working with local sheriffs and others all over the state, we think we have a better, more comprehensive plan that makes a lot of sense.”
Morrow said he was also angered by the way House Judiciary Committee chairman Mike Jones chose to run the prison bill public hearing, noting that speakers were allowed just three minutes to discuss an $845 million plan.
“That works out to about $266 million per minute, I believe,” Morrow said. “It’s not right, so I decided to hold my own hearing. People can talk as long as they want here and the media can ask questions.”
A number of speakers, including representatives from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the conservative Eagle Forum, a sheriff, a former mayor and an economist from Troy University, spent an hour picking apart Ward’s bill and playing up the advantages of a more local approach.
The consistent theme throughout, even between conservative and liberal speakers, was that Ward’s plan is too costly and its funding mechanisms flawed.
A Troy University economist who spoke broke down the various ways in which the bond types wouldn’t work – mainly because the debt service on the higher-rate bonds would be too much for most local municipalities to afford long-term. Troy’s Johnson Center is scheduled to release a research paper on Ward’s prison plan by the end of the week.
Southern Poverty Law Center legal director Rhonda Brownstein noted that Ward’s plan would tie up millions of state dollars while not addressing the two most pressing corrections concerns – overcrowding and a lack of mental health services.
Brownstein said Ward’s plan would leave the Department of Corrections still 1,300 inmates short – “that’s barely a dent in correcting that problem,” she said – and does nothing to address the recruitment or retention of officers who make $13,000 per year less than state troopers.
The overcrowding and understaffing issues within Alabama’s prisons have caused a number of problems, particularly giving rise to a widespread drug and extortion racket being operated by inmates. Several speakers touched on those issues, including Richard Fox, whose son was incarcerated for two years.
Fox said that Alabama’s prisons are plagued by what happens inside of them, not the outer shell.
“Building new prisons is like taking my old New Balance tennis shoes from my front porch and putting them in a brand new box,” Fox said. “The shoes don’t change. But pretty soon that new box starts stinking.”
