Maybe $1.2 billion for a prison is just the beginning of our penance

The Alabama Department of Corrections was and remains a state agency in disarray.

This is not a disputed fact at this time. Enough evidence has been presented – both by the U.S. Department of Justice and your own eyes and ears – to know it is true. And there is also no question that ADOC's facilities are basically little slices of hell on earth – packed to the rafters with incarcerated people and understaffed to the point of cruel and unusual punishment.

And those basic facts, plus the – oh my God – exorbitant price tag, are why I'm torn about Alabama's plan to spend more than $1.2 BILLION on a single new prison.

This is, of course, an absurd amount for a new prison. About five years ago we were all outraged when we thought we could get three prisons for less money.

Nor do I have the slightest confidence in the leadership of ADOC to properly handle the construction, management, or staffing of the world's most expensive prison. I'm sorry, but you can only keep telling me that a man who was clearly murdered fell out of his bunk before I just don't trust you anymore…about pretty much anything.

But …

I think that's the biggest “but” I've ever written, because I'm about to suggest to you that maybe, just maybe, there's a chance that the new prison isn't such a bad idea.

There is a reason: human suffering.

Whenever I see the $1.2 billion the new prison will cost, I get angry. Like any reasonable person. I want to react with condemnation and outrage. I want to scream about the inadequate funding of public schools, social programs, afterschool programs, violence intervention programs, sports, arts and music, and all the other wonderful things we could fund with that money that would keep kids off the streets and out of prison.

But then I remember the letters.

My God, the letters. I'm constantly receiving letters, both in paper and email, from prisons across the state from the heartbroken, frightened and angry parents, siblings, wives and friends of the inmates locked up in these hellholes.

I have seen images of human feces on walls for days. I have seen videos of broken pipes and flooded dormitories. I have been told stories of heat so unbearable that death would have been welcome. I have read accounts of untreated illnesses, chronic conditions and serious injuries that left people in agony for weeks.

We all know from Department of Justice reports that mental health care is lacking in these prisons. And we all know that overcrowding and understaffing have led to so many gruesome sex crimes and other physical abuses that thousands of Alabama citizens have left our prisons broken.

So maybe $1.2 billion is our punishment.

Maybe this is simply the price of taking the first steps to make amends for over 100 years of neglect, abuse, torture and murder. Maybe this is the punishment for ignoring the legitimate and well-documented suffering of others every day.

And while there are certainly flaws in the way the state is handling this new prison ordeal—no longer owning the building after paying off the debt to build this mega-prison is less than ideal—this construction also brings with it some very positive changes. Changes that could put an end to the snickers that go up every time someone says ADOC's goal is “correction.”

The new prison will have modern and adequate medical and psychiatric facilities. It will also include educational and workforce training centers. There will be substance abuse treatment facilities and programs. (Of course, these programs will only work if ADOC actually staffs them—which several inmates say is a major problem right now.)

While the prison will not solve the problem of overcrowding, experts say its design and layout will make it much safer, particularly for low-risk inmates who can be better separated from more dangerous inmates.

That's not to say, of course, that Alabama couldn't do a much better job on a thousand fronts when it comes to funding programs and government services that would prevent so many men and women from ever seeing the inside of a prison – or returning to one after they're released.

But the fact is that there are about 20,000 people currently incarcerated in Alabama's prisons. And almost every single one of them is living in horrific, dangerous, and embarrassing conditions that do absolutely nothing to fight crime and do everything in the world to ensure that we turn low-risk offenders into lifelong criminals.

We have ignored the pleas and horror stories for decades. We have pretended that human suffering is an acceptable punishment for minor crimes. We have dismissed the fact that we do not treat illness and mental health issues within these walls. And we have all stood by and watched as we have failed one person after another who has ever entered an Alabama prison.

Maybe that is the price we have to pay to even begin to correct our actions.