BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Alabama's Department of Corrections (ADOC) commissioner confirmed Tuesday the state's new prison in Elmore County will cost double its original projected price when it opens in the summer of 2026.

ADOC Commissioner John Hamm told legislators at a budget hearing that the 4,000-bed facility is on target to have construction completed in May 2026 with the construction costs holding at $1.08 billion, but the final cost will be closer to $1.2 billion when you include furnishings the state has to provide to make it move-in ready.

The original cost estimate given to the legislature when it approved the construction plan in 2021 was $623 million.

Lawmakers asked Hamm if the new facility will save the state some money through energy efficiencies, but Hamm was unwilling to make that promise, pointing out that while the state will shutter 3 existing facilities when this new one opens, the Elmore County site will include 52 buildings spread across a 300-acre site.

ADOC also announced the cost to taxpayers per inmate per day has jumped almost 21% in 4 years. The per-inmate, per-day cost in Fiscal Year 2020 was $72.28. It's projected to be $87.23 in Fiscal Year 2024. That places Alabama as 4th-lowest among Southeastern states: more expensive on a per-day basis than Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia, and cheaper than Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida.

Alabama's correctional system houses an average of 20,995 inmates this year.

The DOC is under a federal court order to hire 2,000 more correctional officers by July 2025, a target Hamm admitted will be hard to reach. The DOC's Correctional Academy will graduate just over 50 new officers from a class set to join the DOC ranks in mid-September.