BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — A billion-dollar prison that is being built in Elmore County partly using COVID-19 relief funds issued to the state will be named after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.
The prison, formerly the Elmore Specialized Men’s Facility, will now be called the Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex. According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, the motion to name the prison after the governor was recently approved by the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority.
The 54-building prison, which will house 4,000 inmates and cover 335 acres, is nearly halfway complete, ADOC reports.
Gina Maiola, communications director for Ivey’s office, said it was ADOC Commissioner John Hamm’s idea to name the new prison after Ivey, of which she gave her blessing.
“There is no governor in Alabama’s history who has done more to improve the state’s corrections system than Governor Ivey, so it is fitting that one of the new facilities will bear her name,” Maiola said in a written statement. “And her work on this issue is certainly not done.”