Alabama prison to move inmates with mental health needs to gym as Holman closes

The Alabama Department of Corrections will temporarily move men requiring mental health services into a makeshift dormitory inside a prison gymnasium, in part to accommodate men from the partially closing Holman prison.

A man incarcerated at Donaldson prison on Wednesday told the Montgomery Advertiser staff members were preparing to move bunks into one of the prison's gyms, which he described as poorly insulated and often "very cold" in the winter.

ADOC on Friday said measures were taken to establish heat in the gym before housing prisoners there.

ADOC confirmed Thursday morning that the gym was being turned into a temporary dormitory while other dorms are "modified to accommodate restrictive housing inmates." An ADOC spokesperson said the newly modified dorms will hold restrictive housing inmates from facilities across the state, not just Holman.

More: Alabama to close most of Holman prison, move inmates across state

"The ADOC temporarily is moving a small number inmates already housed at Donaldson into the facility’s gymnasium while necessary renovations to several dormitories are completed," ADOC spokesperson Samantha Rose said in a emailed statement. "As Donaldson is a specialized mental health facility, the purpose of this temporary move is to ensure these inmates continue to receive vital mental health services while renovations are completed, at which time they will be moved into the their assigned dormitories."

ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn on Wednesday announced plans to shutter Holman's main building and dormitory at Holman prison and relocate more than 600 prisoners to facilities around the state due to critical maintenance issues. A number of "low risk prisoners," as well as Alabama's death row population, will remain on Holman's campus in a separate dorm.

Dunn said the move, long discussed but accelerated in recent weeks, was because of severe maintenance issues regarding the prison's critical power, water and sewage systems. Dunn cited chronic "underfunding" of the ADOC that led to "the culmination of years of neglect."

Many stakeholders in Alabama's ongoing prisons crisis, including the Department of Justice and legislators, were surprised by the Wednesday announcement, though ADOC has said security concerns surrounding moving large numbers of prisoners required a tight-lipped approach before the official announcement was made.

Conditions at Holman, built in 1969, have long been decried by prisoners and prisoner advocates. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, on Wednesday said it was "only a matter of time" before the building was "condemned" for its deteriorating conditions.

More: 'American horror story': The prison voices you don't hear from have the most to tell us

But some on Wednesday expressed concern that closing Holman would place more stress on prisons around the state, already burdened with critical and systemic understaffing and overcrowding problems.

In an open letter released Wednesday night, advocacy coalition Alabamians for Fair Justice decried the Holman closure as "shortsighted"

"Since its opening in 1969 as a maximum security prison and Alabama’s primary death row for men, Holman Prison has been a site of death and racialized violence in our state. Alabamians for Fair Justice celebrates the shuttering of such a place, while condemning the reckless and irresponsible manner in which the State of Alabama has made this decision," the letter states. "To be clear, this choice will exacerbate already unacceptable levels of overcrowding and understaffing in ADOC — a system with 40 percent of required staff and 169 percent overcrowding."

According to ADOC's October statistical report, the most recent data publicly available, Donaldson was filled to 143% capacity, with 1,387 men housed in a facility designed to hold 968.

ADOC acknowledged Thursday that pushing overflow to non-residential facilities like the Donaldson gym is "not ideal."

“While we understand this is not ideal or a long-term solution, our goal in this case is to safely maintain continuity of care," Rose said. "While renovations are ongoing, the gymnasium will be staffed appropriately to serve this population. The decommissioning of Holman is a highly complex and complicated process that inevitably will impact receiving institutions. We do not, however, anticipate the need for alternate housing situations at other correctional facilities at this time."

Brian Lyman contributed to this report. Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.

Updated on Friday, Jan. 31, at 5 p.m. to add information about heating in the Donaldson gym.