Alabama Community College System approves budget for prison education

The Alabama Community College System Wednesday approved a $23.3 million budget for prison education. 

The money, allocated by the Alabama Legislature in April, is a $500,000 increase (2.2%) over the current budget. Of the money appropriated, $21.3 million will go to J.F. Ingram State Technical College, the state’s correctional education provider.

ACCS Chancellor Jimmy Baker said after the meeting the system wants prison education “to be focused” on training incarcerated people with skills to help them find jobs after release.

“Education in the prison system has been general in nature,” he said. “We want it to be more specific in nature, so that they can already be targeted for these jobs when they walk out.”

Ingram State provides training for 19 career fields, GED preparation, adult education and soft skills training for entering the workforce. In 2024, the college said it served almost 3,000 students annually. 

Last year, Baker said ACCS planned to launch a task force aimed at improving outcomes for incarcerated individuals in the system’s education programs.

The Therapeutic Education Program remained level-funded at nearly $2 million in this year’s budget. The program is managed by Ingram State in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Corrections, ACCS and the GEO Group, Inc. to help prepare its students to transition from incarceration to re-entry.

Funding for the Marion Military Institute and Alabama Technology Network (ATN) were also approved by ACCS.

ATN, which was founded in 1987 to address current and future workforce needs in the state to improve economic growth and joined the community college system in 2004, remained level funded at $6.2 million while Marion Military Institute received increased funding in the budget going from $11.9 million last year to $12.8 million in this year’s budget.

The $10.479 billion education budget, which pays for most public education in the state, goes into effect on Oct. 1. Lawmakers kept funding increases below previous years, citing concerns about long-term growth in the budget. The budget is about $569.7 million (5.7%) higher than the current year’s budget. 

The Alabama Community College System saw its ETF allocation increase to $660 million, a $38 million (6.1%) increase. Besides prison education, the Legislature allocated additional money for dual enrollment and purchases of training equipment for health care centers, among other needs.