History
Alabama’s Administrative Codes define the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) as “The administrative department responsible for administering and exercising the direct and effective control over penal and correctional facilities throughout the State of Alabama.”
Though the ADOC was established in February of 1983, Alabama’s penitentiary system has existed since the State Legislature passed an official criminal code in 1839, being previously governed by other bureaucratic institutions such as the Board of Inspectors of Convicts (BIC), the Board of Control and Economy (BCE), the Board of Administration (BOA), the Department of Corrections and Institutions (DCI), and the Board of Corrections (BOC).
Governance
In its official mission statement, the ADOC describes itself as a group of “Dedicated professionals providing public safety through the safe and secure confinement, rehabilitation, and successful re-entry of offenders.”
The ADOC is led by a commissioner appointed by Alabama’s Governor, the most recent example being Governor Kay Ivey’s appointment of former Deputy Chief Commissioner Greg Lovelace on May 1, 2026.
Commissioner Lovelace oversees the operations of 26 correctional facilities across the state of Alabama, including 14 major correctional facilities and 12 community work centers.
Budget
This year, the ADOC will receive $826.7 million from Alabama’s annual state general fund, nearly a quarter of its entirety.
The ADOC will also receive an additional $130 million in various earmarked federal and state funds, as well as miscellaneous DOC funds.
National Comparisons
Despite this level of funding, Alabama’s prisons have faced long-running problems of overcrowding, understaffing, unsafe conditions, and high recidivism rates.
In 2023, Alabama imprisoned 394 individuals per 100,000 residents, an imprisonment rate that ranked Alabama 12th among U.S. states (tied with Ohio).
In that same year, Alabama was recorded as having the most overcrowded prisons in the nation. Alabama’s prisons were designed to hold 12,115 prisoners but instead housed 21,046 prisoners, ~174% of the system’s designed capacity. (Data is unavailable for the states of Ohio, Missouri and Connecticut).
Relevant Data
No additional capacity has been added since, and Alabama’s custodial prisoner population has increased by some 500 persons.
In 2025, Alabama’s prison populations returned to pre-pandemic conditions and are continuing to rise due to legislation such as the Three Strikes law and, more recently, lack of parole.
Alabama’s prisoner populations vastly outnumber the mere 3,600 total staff employed by the ADOC, not all of which even serve as correctional officers.
Current Challenges
Alabama lawmakers remain unsure as to how the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex will be constructed, at least in a manner true to its original proposal.
In September of 2021, Representative Steve Clouse (R-Ozark) proposed House Bill 4 during the First Special Session of the season.
The legislation outlines the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority’s allocation of $785 million in bonds to update Alabama’s current, outdated penitentiary infrastructure with new, modernized infrastructure through the closure and consolidation of several prisons into the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, a 4,000-bed men’s prison located in Elmore County, as well as a new women’s prison, also in Elmore County, and a new men’s prison, located in Escambia County.
In February of 2025, Senate Bill 60 increased the bond amount to $1.3 billion, citing concerns with unexpected construction costs.
Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex is not to expand prison capacity, but rather simply replace it.
As of 2026, Alabama lawmakers have yet to follow through with the closure of any prisons and the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, expected to have opened in May 2026, has yet to be fully constructed.