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October 20, 2007
AL: 300 women tranferred back to AL from private prison in Louisiana
300 inmates return to Alabama prisons
Friday, October 19, 2007
By BOB LOWRY
(AL) Huntsville Times
Move back home saves families trip, state $10 million
MONTGOMERY - More than 300 female inmates who had been moved to a Louisiana private prison in 2003 because of overcrowding at the Tutwiler Prison for Women are back in Alabama.
Prison Commissioner Richard Allen said Thursday the transfer is the latest move to return all Alabama inmates being held in out-of-state private prisons.
The women had been held at the J.B. Evans Correctional Facility in Newellton, La. The prison is operated by LCS Correctional Services, which also owns the Perry County Detention Center in Uniontown.
The 328 inmates who returned to Alabama by three chartered buses Tuesday and Wednesday will be housed at the newly renovated Montgomery Women's Facility, formerly the Montgomery Pre-Release Center for men.
"We are very pleased to have all of our female inmates back at home," Allen said. "Transferring this many inmates without incident required a massive logistical undertaking."
The facility is on the grounds of Kilby Correctional Facility in Mount Meigs. But Brian Corbet, prisons spokesman, said the facility will not be a part of Kilby.
"It will be a completely separate facility that just happens to be on the same property," he said.
To accommodate the newly returned prisoners, additional showers and toilets were added, with renovations to accommodate medical and mental health services, along with new lighting and a new perimeter security system.
The renovation cost about $55,000.
Allen said the move is expected to save about $10 million annually.
Corbet said 141 male inmates remain at the J.B. Evans prison in Louisiana, while 136 are at the private Perry County prison.
The families of inmates who have been held out of state have long complained about having to drive long distances for visits.
Jacklin Mitchell, serving a 15-year sentence for forgery from Limestone County, had been at the Louisiana prison only since June 12, but she said she was glad to be back in Alabama.
"I'm just overjoyed ... grateful to be back in Alabama," she said. "I like structure. There was no structure in Louisiana. Here we know how it's going to be run."
The prison system was forced to move inmates to out-of-state private prisons in 2003 because of a growing backlog in county jails and a lawsuit brought by the Southern Center for Human Rights over conditions at Tutwiler.
Allen said the prison system has complied with the federal court order by keeping Tutwiler's population at 700 inmates or below.
To eliminate a budget shortage of more than $30 million, the prison system plans to return all inmates from out-of-state facilities in March, Allen said.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1192785572124460.xml&coll=1
Posted by lois at October 20, 2007 09:40 AM