The Alabama Department of Corrections is requesting a $30 million supplement to its budget this year and a $50 million increase for next year, with most of the additional money to be applied to medical and mental health care for prisoners.

The Department of Corrections, the Alabama Medicaid Agency and other agencies are telling state lawmakers how much money they need at a hearing today in preparation for the legislative session, which starts Tuesday.

Medicaid and the prison system consume more of the state's General Fund than any other agencies.

Legislators are preparing to draft budgets for 2019.

The Legislature appropriated $413 million from the $1.8 billion General Fund to the Department of Corrections for 2018. The prison system is expected to need significantly more money to make improvements in mental health services.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn told legislators today that he expects the annual cost of inmate medical and mental health care to increase from about $116 million to about $152 million. DOC has picked a new provider, Wexford Health Sources Inc., and is negotiating a contract that is expected to take effect April 1.

Dunn explained how DOC would use the $30 million supplement to this year's budget.

He said $21 million would go to cover the increased cost under the new healthcare contract. Almost $4 million would be used to adapt facilities to accommodate the increased health care services. And about $5 million would be used to provide correctional officer pay differentials intended to encourage more officers to get the training to work at medium and maximum security facilities, where they are most needed.

As for the $50 million increase for next year, Dunn said $36 million would cover the increased cost of the healthcare contract. The other $14 million would be applied to increased compensation to hire more correctional officers.

Dunn said a longstanding problem of understaffing in prisons has gotten worse. He said there has been a net loss of 120 correctional officers in the last year.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled last year that mental health care in Alabama prisons was "horrendously inadequate." The state has proposed roughly doubling the number of mental health providers working in prisons as part of a proposed remedy to the problem. That's part of the reason for the expected increase in the annual cost of the healthcare contract.

For the last two years, under plans initiated by former Gov. Robert Bentley, the DOC has presented the Legislature proposals to build new prisons, funded by a bond issue. Dunn said he does not expect such a proposal during this year's legislative session.

Dunn said DOC is in the final stages of negotiating a contract with a firm to develop a master plan for prison construction. He said it will probably take that firm four-to-six months to complete its work.

"Those are long-term, expensive capital investments," Dunn said. "And I need a thoroughly thought-through, thoroughly vetted plan that I can bring to the Legislature so that they have confidence to know that if we invest this, we're going to get a good return on this investment and it's supported by the information that we have."

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the departments of Mental Health and Public Health are also making presentations at today's hearing.

Alabama Law Enforcement Secretary Hal Taylor said ALEA is requesting a $5.9 million increase to its $48.7 million General Fund appropriation this year. That includes $3.3 million to hire more sworn personnel and $2.6 million for employee salary and benefit increases.

Taylor said ALEA hired 47 new sworn personnel last year. Thirty-six of those are certified and on the job, while 11 others are scheduled to be certified in May. For the entire fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, ALEA plans to hire a total of 62 new sworn officers and agents, including the 47 already hired.

The Alabama Department of Public Health's funding needs depend partly on legislation still pending in Congress.

For the last two years, federal funds have fully covered the cost of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Before that, Alabama had to provide state funds to cover about 20 percent of the cost.

It's unclear if federal funds will continue to pay 100 percent of the cost of CHIP, which is known in Alabama as ALL Kids and provides insurance to about 84,000 children up to age 19.

The Department of Public Health is requesting a $53.6 million increase in its General Fund appropriation that would pay Alabama's 20 percent match if Congress does not continue the 100 percent funding.

House General Fund budget committee Chairman Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, said a key factor in whether the Legislature can afford the increased funding requested by the Department of Corrections is whether Congress fully funds CHIP.

"If it does, we've got a little breathing room," Clouse said. "We've got a little breathing room to do something with the prison system."

This story was updated with a new headling at 11:10 a.m. and will be updated again. Updated at 2:24 p.m. with information about Public Health's request. The headline was changed at 6:42 p.m. to say the requested increase is $80 million. Updated at 6:49 p.m. to add comment from budget chairman Steve Clouse.

