Prison farms are up for sale

[flashl]

Land sits idle, despite rising cost of food

ATMORE -- A year ago, budget shortfalls forced the Alabama Department of Corrections to scrap its money-losing farming operations.

That decision left the prison system one less industry to wrest productivity from convicted criminals and it rendered idle thousands of acres of farmland in this summer of skyrocketing grain and produce prices.

Corrections officials said that the department is again about $30 million short for the coming fiscal year's needs.

About 5,000 acres of corrections farmland is for sale in the Atmore area, near Holman Correctional Facility, land that once produced soybeans, corn, and beef cattle for market.

Even the promise of higher prices has failed to resurrect prison farming.

Prices for food grains such as wheat and oats are up 64 percent over last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Feed grain prices are 57 percent higher, and commercial vegetable prices are up 37 percent. Even with those increases, corrections officials said, the cost of fuel, fertilizers and new equipment would make farming a break-even enterprise.

Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen said farming was a traditional part of the system, keeping inmates productive since the 1840s.

Alabama Everything

Maybe the Alabama DOC should check with local sheriffs, they are saving enough money to put in their pockets. See: Alabama AG rules that Alabama sheriffs may pocket leftover food money (personal income) after feeding inmates