It has been roughly two weeks since the June 1 funding deadline for a lease-build prison plan has come and gone, which has forced a course change for the Ivey administration on the issue.

Last week, leadership from both the State House and State Senate met with Gov. Kay Ivey to help determine what that course might be given Alabama’s prison situation is under direct threat from the Justice Department and federal courts for alleged violations of the Eighth Amendment.

During an appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” State Senate Majority Leader Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville) discussed what those plans might entail. However, he told host Don Dailey the legislature’s priority on new prison construction was to maintain public safety.

“There’s no question — we’re going to need new prisons,” he said. “We have to keep bad people in prison. First and foremost, we have to keep the public safe. That needs to be where we start out with from the very beginning. The number one premise has to be to keep the bad folks incarcerated and keep the good folks safe.  With that being said, any other type of reform measures needs to reflect just that. We need to make sure that the bad people are kept behind bars, and the good people are kept safe.”

“I think definitely the Republicans in the State Senate have that mindset and would only support legislation that would reflect that,” Scofield added.

The Marshall County lawmaker also said he thought a special session of the legislature called by Ivey would be an appropriate venue for tackling the issue.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.