Speaker Ledbetter Asks Ivey to Halt Escambia County Prison, Seeks Elmore Probe as Board OKs $676M Contract

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter asked Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday to halt construction of the planned Escambia County prison and called for a full investigation into the state’s first new mega-prison in Elmore County, hours before a state finance board voted 6-1 to move the Escambia project forward with a construction contract worth more than $676 million.

Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, sent the letter to Ivey by email on Oct. 29, ahead of a meeting of the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority, the state board that issues bonds and oversees the financing of prison construction and repairs. In the letter, he described management of the Elmore County project as “a complete and total chaotic mess” and argued that taxpayers should not be asked to fund a second facility until they know what went wrong with the first.

The authority, known as ACIFA, met at the State Capitol and approved a contract with B.L. Harbert for $676,056,865 for the first phase of the new Escambia County facility. According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, the current overall budget for the Escambia project is $846,443,827. The number of beds the facility will have when phase one is complete was also reduced, from 2,056 to 1,618.

Ivey’s office said the authority approved three resolutions related to the Escambia project, including funding, and the governor called the vote “a major, positive step.”

What Ledbetter asked for

In a public statement released with the letter, Ledbetter said he respects the governor but disagrees sharply with how her administration has handled the two prison projects.

“I think the world of Governor Ivey, but her administration’s handling of the construction of Alabama’s two new men’s prisons is flat out wrong. Taxpayers deserve to understand what has transpired during the failed construction of the first facility before they are asked to foot the bill for a second.”

The letter made two specific requests: that Ivey stop construction of the Escambia County facility, and that the state open a full investigation into the construction of the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex in Elmore County.

“I am, again, asking that you do what is best for the people of Alabama and halt construction of the second facility,” Ledbetter wrote. “Additionally, taxpayers deserve to know what has transpired during the failed construction of the first facility, and I am calling for a full investigation.”

He closed with a line that framed his objection as one of process rather than need. “No one is disputing that Alabama needs new prisons, but this is simply not the way to go about it,” he wrote.

A July meeting and a missed deadline

Ledbetter wrote that he met with members of the governor’s staff and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace on July 20 for an update on the Elmore County complex. At that meeting, he said, legislative leaders learned the completion date was being pushed from October 2026 to “sometime between March and May 2027.”

“During that meeting, we were disappointed, but ultimately unsurprised, to learn that the completion date of that facility was again being pushed back,” Ledbetter wrote, “and that the management of the project had descended into a complete and total chaotic mess. It was clear during that meeting that ADOC had essentially lost all control and was more or less afraid to push too hard on the contractor, Caddell Construction, out of fear that they might walk away from the project altogether.”

The Department of Corrections announced on Oct. 16 that Caddell Construction had missed its final completion deadline of Oct. 15 on the Elmore County complex. The department said the authority was withholding $14.2 million in liquidated damages, a contract remedy that allows an owner to collect a set amount when a builder fails to finish on time, and that the facility was an estimated 85% complete.

The Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex is a 4,000-bed men’s prison with a cost of about $1.25 billion. Ledbetter wrote that he told the governor’s staff on July 20, and in several conversations afterward, that he opposed moving ahead in Escambia County while the Elmore facility is “$635M+ over budget and one year behind schedule.”

“What is disappointing is that, despite having a long and well-documented list of reasons, you have ignored every request from the Legislature to press pause on the construction of the Escambia County facility,” he wrote.

‘The opposite of transparency’

Much of Ledbetter’s criticism focused on the timing and information surrounding Thursday’s vote. He wrote that the ACIFA meeting had been called only two days earlier and that legislative leadership had not been given a chance to review any change orders or site renderings for the Escambia facility.

“Legislative leadership has not been given the opportunity to review a single change order or site rendering. We do not even know what we are being asked to pay for,” Ledbetter wrote. “Additionally, the meeting was called just two days ago. That is the opposite of transparency.”

He also argued that the board’s makeup favors the executive branch, writing that ACIFA is “stacked with Executive Branch public officials who are ultimately accountable to you.” Members of the authority include Ivey; Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace; Finance Director Doryan Carlton; Director of Pardons and Paroles Cam Ward; state Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore; Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro; and state Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville.

“Committing taxpayers to another major financial obligation under these circumstances, without first addressing the cost overruns, delays, and apparent failures in project management, is an unacceptable risk to public funds and a failure of fiscal accountability,” Ledbetter wrote. “To make matters worse, you will be exiting office in less than three months, leaving the next administration to clean up the mess.”

Ivey is term-limited and will leave office in January. Voters will choose her successor in the Nov. 3 general election.

How the finance board voted

Reynolds cast the only vote against the contract and the other measures taken up Thursday. He said afterward that his vote was not a vote against new prisons, but a reflection of how little time he had to review the details.

“My no vote did not mean that I don’t think we need to build a new prison. I’ve been very supportive of building new prisons, but we’re in the situation we’re in currently in Elmore, and we’re working through that. I do question our ability to manage two projects of this scope at one time,” Reynolds said.

“I received a briefing on this vote yesterday, and then I received the change orders today within one hour before the vote. I wouldn’t put my colleagues in that position to vote for $853 million of taxpayers’ money without my due diligence. I just didn’t have time to dive into it. When I did dive into it, I was concerned about some of the change orders. We decided to do a phase 1 and 2, and I supported that. Then I found out with the change orders we dropped down to just a little over 1,600 beds. I just had some concerns, and I just couldn’t support it.”

Albritton, whose Senate district includes Escambia County, voted for the contract while acknowledging that problems with the first prison weigh on the second.

“The Elmore (project) clouds much of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Albritton said during the meeting. “Here we have a plan that hopefully will address a problem that has been generationally developed up on us. We’re moving forward with this. There are lots of things that have me concerned with this too, but we’ve got to move forward with this. We don’t have an option. This is our obligation to move forward with this. This is where we need to be.”

Ivey: ‘Green light’ for Escambia

In a statement from her office after the vote, Ivey said the action allows building construction on the Escambia facility to proceed.

“Today’s action gives the green light for building construction on the Escambia facility to go forward. This major, positive step enhances the state’s capabilities and allows us to better manage the violent individuals that are sentenced to the care of Corrections…While I cannot speak for others, I am someone who refuses to kick the can down the road.”

“We are doing not only what is now required by law but also what is right and necessary,” Ivey said. “I am proud we are officially moving forward with construction on this second facility.”

Ivey’s office had not responded to a request for comment specifically about Ledbetter’s letter as of Thursday.

Costs well beyond the 2021 plan

The Legislature approved a $1.3 billion prison construction plan during a 2021 special session. That plan called for two new 4,000-bed men’s prisons, one in Elmore County and one in Escambia County, along with renovations at other facilities. Supporters said at the time that modern prisons would be safer, require fewer staff and allow the state to close aging facilities. Alabama’s prison system has struggled for years with overcrowding, understaffing and violence, and the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in December 2020 over conditions in its men’s prisons.

The Elmore County complex alone now accounts for roughly $1.25 billion. Ledbetter wrote that the second prison’s projected cost is close to $1 billion and that the total for both facilities would be well over $2 billion.

Financing for the Escambia facility is already partly in place. In August, ACIFA approved up to $195 million in new bonds for the project. Those bonds sold on Oct. 6 for $190,190,000, and the Alabama Department of Finance said this week the buyer was Regions Capital Advantage, a division of Regions Bank.

Ledbetter is not the only lawmaker to question how the projects have been managed. State Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, and state Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, have also voiced frustration. Elliott has said the construction approach failed to deliver the very advantages it was supposed to provide.

“It’s not gone well in terms of cost and it’s not gone well in terms of time,” Elliott said. “And those are the two things that everyone was led to believe were going to be benefits of this process, in this delivery method, and it turned out to be the exact opposite.”

What it means for Escambia County and what comes next

For Escambia County, which is already home to Holman and Fountain correctional facilities near Atmore, Thursday’s vote means construction on the new men’s prison is cleared to proceed, at least for now, under a phased plan with fewer beds in its first stage than earlier proposed.

Ledbetter’s letter does not by itself stop the project. The governor and the finance authority control the construction and financing decisions, and the authority has now approved the contract and funding resolutions. What the speaker’s letter does signal is continued opposition from the leader of the Alabama House, which, along with the Senate, writes the state budgets that ultimately repay prison bonds and fund the Department of Corrections.

Key points to watch in the months ahead include:

• Whether the governor’s office or any state agency responds to Ledbetter’s call for a full investigation of the Elmore County construction.
• Progress on the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, which the corrections department estimates is about 85% complete and which Ledbetter says is now expected to be finished between March and May 2027.
• How the $14.2 million in liquidated damages being withheld from Caddell Construction is resolved.
• The scope and cost of later phases of the Escambia facility beyond the 1,618 beds in phase one.
• How the next governor, who takes office in January, approaches both projects.

Lawmakers will also have the chance to question corrections and finance officials when the Legislature returns for its next regular session and takes up the General Fund budget, which pays for the state prison system.