- Fountain Correctional Facility
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G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections prison located in unincorporated Escambia County, Alabama. The 8,200-acre (3,300 ha) facility is located along Alabama Highway 21, about 7 miles (11 km) north of Atmore.[1]
The prison may hold up to 855 medium custody male prisoners. The prison has agricultural operations, cattle operations, and vegetable gardens. Fountain and Jefferson Davis Community College offer vocational programs to the prisoners. The annual budget is $8,132,000.[1]
J. O. Davis Correctional Facility, an extension of Fountain, is a 400 prisoner unit. The unit was named after a previous Fountain warden.[2]
History
In 1928 the Moffett Prison Farm opened. It later received the name "Atmore Prison Farm." The facility burned down in 1949. In 1955 it was rebuilt with a new name, after a prison guard killed while working.[1] Davis opened in 1973.[2] In periods of the 1970s the Fountain facility, built for 632 prisoners, instead housed over 1,000.[3] In 1975 John Boone, the director of the National Campaign Against Prisons and a former prison commissioner in Massachusetts, said that Fountain and the Draper Correctional Facility had situations where "at any time the prisoners want to, they could take complete charge by force."[4] On Friday August 29, 1975, two U.S. district court federal judges, William Brevard Hand and Frank M. Johnson Jr., prevented Alabama authorities from sending any more prisoners to Fountain, Draper, Holman Correctional Facility, and the Medical and Diagnostic Center, due to overcrowding; the four prisons, designed to hold 2,212 prisoners, were holding about 3,800.[5]
A fire damaged the Davis facility in March 30, 1995. By October 8, 1995 the Davis facility had been refurbished.[2]
References
- ^ a b c "Fountain / JO Davis Correctional Facility." Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Fountain Correctional Facility." Alabama Department of Corrections. August 11, 2002. Retrieved on July 4, 2011.
- ^ "Why Wallace Has Returned to the Gutter." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tuesday January 20, 1976. 6. Retrieved from Google Books (4 of 11) on July 5, 2011.
- ^ "'Powder keg' label given to Alabama's prison system." Gadsden Times. Friday August 22, 1975. 109th year, 50th Issue. Page 1. Retrieved from Google News (1 of 7) on July 4, 2011.
- ^ "Court closes Alabama prison gates." St. Petersburg Times. Saturday August 30, 1975. 2A. Retrieved from Google Books (3 of 56) on July 5, 2011.
External links
Alabama Department of Corrections prisonsState prisons Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♀ (female only)Categories:- Buildings and structures in Escambia County, Alabama
- 1928 establishments
- Prisons in Alabama
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