Alabama lawmakers and the public will hear reports today on the state’s prison system, which faces a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging unconstitutional conditions, a severe staff shortage, and other problems.

The Joint Prison Oversight Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Alabama State House.

The agenda includes updates from Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, including the latest on the state’s plans to build two large prisons for men to replace smaller, aging facilities.

In October 2021, the Legislature approved a $1.3 billion plan to build two 4,000-bed prisons, one in Elmore County and one in Escambia County. Ivey and legislative leaders said the new prisons were an essential part of the solution to problems identified in the DOJ lawsuit over unsafe conditions, filed in December 2020.

Hamm will give an update on the ADOC’s staff shortage, which has gotten worse over the last few years despite federal court orders to substantially increase the number of correctional officers.

And the commissioner will talk about implementing an executive order from Gov. Kay Ivey on correctional incentive time, or “good time,” a program intended to allow inmates to shorten their sentences by following the rules in prison.

Ivey issued new rules on “good time” in January. The governor said they would bring uniformity to what she said was a patchwork system. Her order defined severe, high-level, medium-level, and low-level violations by inmates and the resulting sanctions, including the loss of good time earned.

Most Alabama inmates are ineligible for “good time.” The ADOC said 2,775 of 19,962 inmates in custody, or 13.9 percent, were qualified to earn correctional incentive time, at the time Ivey issued the order.

Read more: Former correctional officer says Alabama prison staffing shortage has reached critical point

This story will be updated.