BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
A brand-new mega prison is coming to Elmore County in the next couple of years. The question is…where will it be located? Should private land be purchased for the facility, or could the state use land already set up for prisons? A huge debate has been simmering for years on just that topic. Now with a decision expected to be announced soon, different sides of the debate are pushing the pros and cons.
West Elmore County is certainly no stranger to prisons. There were five prisons or related facilities in Elmore County, until Draper closed in March of 2018, but it is again being used for inmate intake into the system during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also support facilities including JF Ingram Technical School that supports the current inmate population. Three sites in west Elmore County currently house several thousand inmates.
When the mega prison is built, at whatever location, it will be done by CoreCivic.
It is expected the other older men’s prisons in the county will close. Some say it makes sense to place the new mega prison in the same area where residents are already accustomed to it, and not in a new location where residents and businesses oppose having a prison in their backyard.
One possible location that Alabama DOC considering is private land on Rifle Range Road near Tallassee. This is a location Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock is behind 100 percent and said, “It would be a huge economic boom to his city.”
“There are a lot of things that go into play on something like this. I have a certificate of economic development from Auburn. There are three keys to economic development, and they are infrastructure, workforce and good civic leadership. We have those.” A prison would also bring other businesses, Hammock said.
“Think about visitation day, and the people that would be coming to town. They are going to need hotels, gas stations and restaurants. We would see an influx of tax revenues for our city,” Hammock said.
But there are those that do not agree with the Mayor. An online petition entitled “AGAINST STATE PRISON IN TALLASSEE, AL” has 2,377 signers. There has also been a page created on Facebook named “Stop the New Mega-Prison in Tallassee, AL” that contains the comments of hundreds of people who do not want the prison located in Tallassee.
“On social media, I see a lot of the people who are fear mongering, saying the prisoners could escape, run into the middle of a school and kill all of the kids,” Hammock said. However, he said that in most prison escapes, the prisoner wants to get as far away as possible, and most escapes are from minimum-security facilities.
Hammock said “The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats. Some are wanting to lead a crusade against the prison. Some people just don’t like me for whatever reason. But I won the mayor’s election in August with 52 percent in a field of three candidates without a runoff.”
The Elmore County Commission through the Elmore County Economic Development Authority has worked with the Alabama Department of Corrections since 2015 to make them successful in building a new mega prison in West Elmore County.
Recently, the Elmore County Commission, the Elmore County EDA, the Autauga County Commission, six municipalities, and two water authorities petitioned Governor Ivey and her administration to closely reexamine the benefits of locating the mega prison in West Elmore County.
Elmore County Commissioner Bart Mercer stated, “In our letter to the administration, we all were united in the belief that the state prison facilities need to remain in an area of Elmore County where there is an acceptance of the correctional industry, infrastructure in place to support the correctional facilities, existing workforce to support the correctional operations, and land already owned by the Alabama Department of Corrections. This has been a consistent stance of this Commission and the neighboring communities.”
Art Faulkner, Chairman of the Elmore County Economic Development Authority (ECEDA), commented, “As the largest current location for housing inmates in the state, a shift to another area of the county creates an additional hardship on the existing employees and has the potential to dramatically increase water and sewer rates for a large portion of Elmore County residents and businesses. Additionally, it places a large prison in an area of the county where residents are not accustomed to life near this type of facility. The taxpayers already own the perfect site for a prison. It is adjacent to the current prison complex. It’s flat, utilities are already on site, and there is a a community that wants to keep the facility there. Why would you take prisons away from a community that wants them and give them to a community that doesn’t?”
As the Ivey administration finalizes plans for the mega prison, only one thing is certain at this point. Elmore County has been selected as the site of one of the mega prisons, and where that site is finally built will impact the county for generations to come.
In the 2010 Census, Tallassee had an official population of 4,819. However, Hammock said he feels that was a very low figure, as too many people did not fill out the Census. “I think today we are closer to eight or nine thousand.”
Hammock also discussed the possibility of annexing the land where the prison could be located into city limits.
“If you look at water, sewer and gas, you are talking about several hundred thousand dollars of additional revenue. The private facility would also have to pay property taxes for both health care and education. If we annex a property in, we get a five percent franchise fee from Alabama Power franchise from all residents. From a financial standpoint this influx of money could help quality of life type things that don’t generate money. Public safety, fire and police. Or the Recreation Department, and schools…we are building a new school this coming year. It could benefit our Street department.”
But the other side of the coin is officials say that moving operations to Tallassee would impact water and sewer rates significantly for customers of the Wetumpka Water Works and Sewer Board.
Johnny Strickland is the Chairman of the Board for Wetumpka Water Works and Sewer.
“We have a full 4.5 million sewage treatment facility. It was built for the Russell Plant in the 1990s. They used around three million gallons of water a day, and we treated their sewage for them,” Strickland said.
When the Russell Plant closed around 2012, the need dropped drastically, but the system still had to be maintained. So it would be again, he said, if the prison system is moved to Tallassee. It would mean a significant rate increase for current customers.
When there was a need for the current prisons to find a sewage treatment option when their Lagoons became antiquated, $3.5 million was put into the infrastructure to service their needs as well as the town of Elmore, Strickland said.
Wetumpka Water Works partners with other water works divisions including Five Star Water, Central Elmore and Montgomery.
Of the sites that are being discussed for the new prison, one is known as Crop Circle, which is adjacent to the Draper facility and already state-owned, Strickland said.
“The state would not have to purchase the land. All of the infrastructure is already in place…it could be retro-fitted easily for the new prison,” Strickland said.
Moving the prison to Tallassee, would mean Wetumpka Water and Sewer losing a third of their business and income, he said.
“Why would the state or private business go out and buy land when you already own land and the perfect location to put a prison?” Strickland asked. “It just makes absolutely no sense to me. This would have a huge negative impact for Elmore, Millbrook, and surrounding areas.”
While Draper Prison is technically closed, but still being used through COVID-19, there are multiple other facilities that could be closed once the new prison is built. They include Staton, Elmore Correctional, J.F. Ingram and Frank Lee Youth Facility.
“I cannot fathom how anyone would consider moving it from where it is,” Strickland said.
As for Mayor Hammock in Tallassee, he said the west side of Elmore county has flourished, while the east side in areas such as Eclectic and Tallassee have been somewhat stagnant.
“I think it would be great for the prison to come here (to Tallassee) and level the playing field for Elmore County. It is one of the fastest growing counties in the state, but Tallassee and Eclectic haven’t seen much of that,” Hammock said.
About CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America – Wikipedia:
CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.
As of 2016, the company was the second largest private corrections company in the United States. CoreCivic manages more than 65 state and federal correctional and detention facilities with a capacity of more than 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The company’s revenue in 2012 exceeded $1.7 billion. By 2015, its contracts with federal correctional and detention authorities generated up to 51% of its revenues. It operated 22 federal facilities with the capacity for 25,851 prisoners. By 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) along with GEO Group were running “more than 170 prisons and detention centres.” CCA’s revenues in 2015 were $1.79bn.
