Alabama Will Spend Nearly 20 Percent of its Federal COVID Relief Money to Build Human Cages
After years of searching for a way to finance a massive prison-building scheme, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has found her cash cow: Federal coronavirus aid.
Under legislation signed by Ivey at the end of a special session a little over a week ago, Alabama will spend $400 million in COVID aid—about 20 percent of the state’s $2.1 billion allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act—on a construction plan that advocates fear will lead to more people being locked in a prison system that’s currently being sued by the Justice Department for rampant violence, sexual abuse, excessive force, and poor living conditions.
The state justifies dipping into COVID aid by designating the $400 million as estimated “lost revenue”—money the state would have had in its coffers, to spend as it wished, if not for the pandemic. While the use of COVID relief money is governed by a complicated, interim Treasury Department rule, rescue funds used to replace “lost revenue” come with relatively few strings attached.
“This is opportunism at its best,” says Jim Carnes, policy director of anti-poverty nonprofit Alabama Arise and an expert in state budgets. “The strange thing is our budgets have fared rather well.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/10/alabama-federal-aid-covid-prisons-kay-ivey/
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