July 2022 Group Watch: Prison Bond Falls $200M Short; Two New Prisons Still On Track
Alabama’s prison finance authority sold $509 million in bonds to help build two large men’s prisons, leaving the state about $200 million short of what it expects to need for the projects. State Finance Director Bill Poole said that will not change or delay plans for the 4,000-bed prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties. Poole said the bond sales give Alabama a total of more than $1 billion to proceed with projects, which was estimated to cost about $1.3 billion. The finance authority, a seven-member board created by the legislature, had approved a $725 million bond issue. Poole said he expects the annual debt service to be about $45 million to $48 million once all the prison financing is in place.
