Oversight office launches prison audit pilot and reports construction checks on Elmore County complex

An oversight official told the Joint Prison Oversight Committee that her office is launching a pilot audit of a single state prison to examine conditions, programming and accountability measures and produce an actionable report rather than a document that “sits on a shelf.” The audit will look at prison conditions, educational and re-entry programs, drug and mental-health treatment, use-of-force and complaint-resolution processes.

Ms. Riddle said the team will conduct interviews, collect operational data and enter a prison in the latter part of the summer, with a hoped-for turnaround of an October report: “We’re going to do a pilot program for that reason and come to you to see if this is the way you want this to go … is this useful information for you?”

Lawmakers on the committee praised the proposal but asked for deeper information than aggregate counts. Representative Simpson said she wanted the review to include “financials and then the complaints” and Representative England urged the team to ensure the audit is independent of the Department of Corrections.

Deputy Commissioner Chuck Williams provided a construction update for the Governor Kay Ivey complex in Elmore County, saying the site is roughly 80% complete and the department projects an Oct. 15, 2026 completion. Williams said the project averages about 821 workers on site daily and outlined the facility’s planned capacity: 4,000 total beds comprising 1,168 minimum-security beds, 1,536 medium-security beds (two occupants per cell), 192 maximum-security beds, 720 medical and mental-health beds and 384 intake beds.

“The completion date for the project is set for October 15th of 2026,” Deputy Commissioner Chuck Williams said in the update.

Committee members pressed the department to provide documentation and methodology behind the bed counts and to supply detailed transition planning for moving inmates into the new complex. Members also asked how the new beds relate to facilities slated to close; DOC staff said Elmore, Kilby and Staton are designated in current legislation to be taken offline and that a transition committee will determine repurposing and transfers rather than simply moving populations “across the street.”

Representative Hill pressed for exact figures the department did not have at the hearing, including counts of how many incarcerated people qualify as minimum, medium or maximum security and how many are on work release; DOC said it would provide those numbers after the meeting.

The committee asked for follow-up reports documenting the pilot audit’s scope and a clear timeline for the construction-to-transition plan. The oversight official said the office expects to use the pilot’s findings to recommend refinements and to determine whether the information produced is usable for policymakers.