This column is an opinion piece.
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By David Sher
Compared to other counties in the United States, Jefferson County has the most jails per capita.
Twenty prisons. TWENTY.
It’s not a typo.
For comparison, there are just 14 correctional facilities in New York City, which has about 15 times our population.
There are 20 distinct correctional facilities spread throughout the 35 towns that make up Jefferson County: two are run by Jefferson County and the other 18 are run by local cities.
Jefferson County is mired in waste and litigation, while towns around the country are exiting the jail industry.
The Shocking Truth
The startling reality was uncovered by a thorough 2020 study conducted by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA). Only Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has more municipally run jails than any other county in the country—22—and its population is roughly double that of Jefferson County. Jeffco has much more jails per capita, although having two less.
The scenario has become more confrontational after almost five years.
Not only do we lead the nation in government waste. The national title is being won by us.
The System Is Now Completely Broken
When Birmingham sued Jefferson County in 2024 over jail services, the turmoil escalated to new levels. This court case demonstrates how our disjointed structure has led to tensions between government agencies that ought to be working together.
We have costly, taxpayer-funded legal battles in place of regional cooperation.
The staggering financial reality
Running 20 different prisons results in a great deal of redundancy:
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Duplicated staffing costs across multiple locations
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Separate maintenance, utilities, and administrative expenses for each facility
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Legal liability insurance for every location
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Training and equipment costs multiplied across numerous sites
Every prison needs costly security systems, medical care capabilities, and specialized correctional training—all of which are paid for the taxpayers.
These dispersed prisons generate significant continuing costs in addition to direct operating costs:
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Legal Warfare:
The 2024 lawsuit
shows how dysfunction generates expensive legal battles between government entities
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Legal Liability: The Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation actively recommends cities get out of the jail business
Proposed merger of over-the-mountain jails failed
A concept to combine the city jails of Homewood, Vestavia Hills, and Mountain Brook under a regional jail authority was proposed in 2007, according to an article headlined “Seeds of Cooperation: Over-the-Mountain Jail” on al.com. It was hailed as an example of intergovernmental cooperation in metro Birmingham.
However, the cities were unable to come to a consensus. In the end, every municipality constructed its own jail.
Other counties figured it out
Other Alabama counties adopted common sense when Jefferson County’s system collapsed into lawsuits:
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Mobile County operates one metro jail, with the city paying one-third of costs
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Madison County has Huntsville and Madison cooperatively share the county jail
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Tuscaloosa County houses municipal prisoners under contract
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Shelby County operates just three jail facilities for one-third our population
Solutions exist but leadership fails
Although obvious answers have been found, they are nevertheless disregarded:
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Short-term: Cities could contract with facilities that have excess capacity
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Long-term: Expand the Jefferson County Jail system or create a regional jail authority
Each participating community might save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year through regional collaboration. Rather, we get litigation and agency-to-agency conflict.
The real outrage
For years, ComebackTown has written on this waste, showing how 35 communities in Jefferson County justify 20 jails, 13 distinct 911 call centers, 27 police departments, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, and 35 fire departments.
It’s worse than waste now, though. The government is completely dysfunctional. Birmingham’s litigation regarding basic jail services demonstrate that the system is not only ineffective but actively detrimental to good governance.
We waste government dollars that could be used to build roads, schools, economic growth, or actual public safety improvements every day these unnecessary facilities are left open.
Time for leadership
We need mayors who have the guts to embrace regional collaboration and acknowledge that this system is flawed.
We require county commissioners who are prepared to spend money on integrated solutions.
Instead of engaging in costly legal disputes, we need all officials to cooperate.
Above all, voters who will hold elected leaders responsible for this costly dysfunction are what we need.
The disjointed 20-jail system in Jefferson County is not only ineffective. With lawsuits and everyday insults to all taxpayers, it is a testament to the failure of regional collaboration.
ComebackTown was founded and is published by David Sher. He formerly served as Chairman of the City Action Partnership (CAP), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA).
Ask David to come to your organization and give a free talk about how we can make metro Birmingham more successful. Comebacktown.com/dsher
