There is hereby created the Alabama Department of Corrections, hereinafter referred to as "the department" which shall have all of the duties, responsibilities, authority, power, assets, liabilities, property, funds, appropriations, contractual rights and obligations, property rights and personnel, whether accruing or vested, by operation or by law and which are not in conflict with this section and Sections 14-1-1.2 through 14-1-1.5 which, prior to the enactment of Sections 14-1-15 through 14-1-17, were vested in a Board of Corrections and which, by virtue of such statutes, vested in the Governor of the State of Alabama.

The department shall be an administrative department responsible for administering and exercising the direct and effective control over penal and corrections institutions throughout this state. An institution over which the department exercises control may not be leased, transferred, or placed under the supervision or management of any nongovernmental entity without first obtaining the consent of the Legislature through the passage of legislation by a majority vote of the membership of each house.

The department shall be headed by and under the independent direction, supervision and control of a Commissioner of Corrections, hereinafter referred to as "the commissioner," who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The Governor is hereby authorized to set the salary of the commissioner at the same level of any cabinet officer or at a reasonable level in excess thereof. The commissioner, without additional compensation, shall also serve as and exercise the authority, functions and duties of the Commissioner of Corrections as that position otherwise exists under the laws of Alabama, it being the intention of this section that there be but one Commissioner of Corrections.

The commissioner shall be a person of good character, of good business experience and experience in the administration of correctional systems, shall have no financial interest in any partnership, corporation or association with which the department has any financial dealings and shall devote his full time to his official position and shall hold no other lucrative position while serving as such. Before entering upon the duties of his office, the commissioner shall take the constitutional oath of office and execute to the State of Alabama a bond, to be approved by the Governor, in an amount to be fixed by the Governor, but not less than $10,000.00, for the faithful performance of his duties.

The commissioner shall have the authority to appoint no more than three deputy commissioners who shall serve at his pleasure, and to define their duties. The deputy commissioners shall be persons of good character, of good business, educational or administrative experience, shall have no financial interest in any partnership, corporation or association with which the department has any financial dealings and shall devote their full time to their official position and shall have no other lucrative position while serving as such. Their salaries shall be set by the commissioner but shall not exceed the salary paid the commissioner.

All functions and duties of the board shall be exercised by the board, acting by itself or by and through such administrative divisions or such officers or employees as it may designate. The board shall have all power and authority necessary or convenient to carry out the functions and duties of the board. The board shall have no authority over the management or control of any of the mental hospitals or asylums or juvenile industrial or training schools of the state, but shall have the duty of arranging for cooperation between, or among, the said institutions on matters of mutual concern. In the performance of such functions and duties and in the exercise of such powers and authorities, the board and all other officers and employees of the board shall, however, be subject to all legal restrictions, limitations, conditions and penalties, civil and criminal, with respect to the performance of such functions and duties and the exercise of such powers and authorities. All reports and statements required to be made by any such department, board, bureau, commission, agency or office shall hereafter be made by the board.

The board shall have power and authority to establish and promulgate rules and regulations, including amendments and repeals thereof, with respect to the manner of performance of all functions and duties of the board, which rules and regulations shall be reasonably calculated to effect the expeditious and efficient performance of such functions and duties and shall not be in conflict with applicable statutes.

The board may also make such changes in the existing arrangements with reference to the segregation and treatment of tubercular patients and other patients needing long-time hospital detention and care who are serving sentences for conviction of crime, so as to permit such patients to be transferred to the custody and care of those officers and agents who have the charge and control of the detention hospital, or hospitals, of the state convict system. The agents in charge of such hospital, or hospitals, during the period of the treatment of such convict patients, are constituted the legal custodians of such convicts. Any such hospital, or hospitals, or other places suitable and used under the convict system for the segregation and treatment of tubercular or other long-time patients may be opened under the authority of the board and may be used for the segregation, treatment and care of other inmates afflicted with tuberculosis or other diseases or ailments requiring long-time detention, treatment and care, and who may be received from any other institution covered by this chapter, or from any hospital or other duly accredited and responsible institution in the state with which the board may cooperate in the matter of the treatment or care of such patients. There shall be proper separation of convicts from free persons and males from females in such hospital or place of detention. The board is given general authority over the reception, care, custody and segregation of such persons and is also vested with the power and authority, by and with the approval of the Governor, to establish and promulgate rules and regulations for the proper conduct of the business and operation of such hospitals and places of detention, except as may be otherwise provided by this chapter.

The fiscal year of the board shall end on September 30 of each year. At the end of each fiscal year, the board shall submit to the Governor a report of its activities and may, from time to time, make recommendations to the Legislature based upon study and analysis for the better conduct and operation of the penal and correctional institutions of the state.

There is hereby created from the board's general operating funds, for the use and benefit of the board, a fund in the amount of $40,000.00 to be known as the Corrections Revolving Fund. The purpose of said fund shall be to pay certain expenses at the general office of the board and at the prisons and institutions under its supervision and control. The Commissioner of Corrections or the chief accountant of the board, upon authorization by the board, shall be the custodian of said fund and shall authorize, approve or certify all withdrawals and expenditures from said fund. Reimbursement to this fund shall be made by voucher by the commissioner or chief accountant, upon which the comptroller shall issue his warrant. The commissioner shall be authorized to make such expense advances from said fund to transfer agents and other employees as he deems proper. He shall be authorized to set aside such amounts as he deems necessary to the various prisons and institutions under his supervision for allowances to prisoners and for general administrative uses in such institutions. Expenditures from said fund shall be budgeted and allotted pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 41. All refunds to the Corrections Revolving Fund, as established by this section, shall be made from the board's general operating fund.

All duties, responsibilities, authority, power, assets, liabilities, property, funds, appropriations, contractual rights and obligations, property rights and personnel, whether accruing or vested, by operation or by law and which are not in conflict with Sections 14-1-15 through 14-1-17 and which are presently vested in the Board of Corrections under Title 14, Chapters 1 through 12, as amended, and by any other laws or parts of laws of this state, are hereby vested in the Governor of the State of Alabama.

Effective October 1, 1979, the Board of Corrections of the State of Alabama is hereby abolished and all rights, all duties, responsibilities, powers, assets, liabilities, contractual rights and obligations and property rights, whether accruing or vested in the abolished agency, are hereby vested in the Governor of the State of Alabama.

All functions and duties of the department shall be exercised by the Governor, acting by himself or by and through such administrative divisions or such officers or employees or individuals as he may designate. The Governor is hereby further authorized to set the salary of such individual or individuals and make one such person responsible to him as administrator of the corrections institutions throughout this state. The Governor is further authorized to set the salary of such administrator at the same level of any cabinet officer or at a reasonable level in excess thereof. Any administrator shall have the authority and the duties which the Governor may designate and all of the power and authority incident to carrying out the functions and duties assigned.

(a) There is hereby created the Board of Corrections Capital Outlay Oversight Commission to consist of the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, Governor, Finance Director, the State Board of Corrections Officer, and six members each from the House of Representatives and Senate, appointed by the Speaker of the House and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. The members so appointed shall serve until their successors are appointed at the next regular session of the Legislature following the regular session in which they were elected. In the event of the death or resignation of any member appointed from the Senate or the House of Representatives his successor shall be appointed from the same body and such successor appointed to the vacancy shall serve for the unexpired term remaining of the member he was appointed to succeed. The original members shall serve until the end of their elected terms. Each subsequent appointment shall be for the full four-year legislative term. A chairman and vice chairman shall be elected from among its members. The commission shall hold an organizational meeting at the State Capitol within 10 days after May 21, 1981. Thereafter the commission shall meet, from time to time, at the call of the chairman, vice chairman, or upon the request of five or more members, with notice and procedure as prescribed by the rules of the commission. The commission shall adopt its own rules of procedure and transaction of business, except as otherwise herein provided.

(b) A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting any business or the performance of any authorized duties. Each of the ex officio and appointed members shall have voting privileges.

(c) The commission shall approve and supervise any capital outlay or capital improvement for the Board of Corrections made pursuant to the provisions of this section.

(d) The sum of $45,000,000.00, or so much thereof as may become available, as herein provided, is hereby appropriated from the General Fund of the State Treasury, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1981, to the use of the Board of Corrections for capital outlays and capital improvements. Such appropriation shall be released only upon resolution duly adopted by the commission, recommending and ordering the transfer, the use or expenditure of the amount, and upon the terms so recommended; and the State Comptroller shall draw a warrant in such amount and for such purposes upon receipt of a certified copy of the resolution signed by the chairman or vice chairman. Such supplemental appropriations made pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any other appropriation heretofore or hereinafter provided by law for the Board of Corrections.

(e) The commission shall keep full and complete minutes in writing of its proceedings and every action taken shall be by written resolution.

(f) Each legislative member of the commission shall be entitled to his regular legislative compensation, per diem and travel expenses for each day he attends a meeting or conducts business of the commission which shall be paid out of any funds herein appropriated, on warrants drawn on the State Comptroller upon requisition signed by the committee's chairman or vice chairman.

(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that funds accruing to the state from oil and gas leases, although co-mingled with other funds in the General Fund of the State Treasury for investment purposes, shall be considered as a separate fund for purposes of appropriations. All principal and interest accruing from the leases shall remain in the State Treasury until specifically and unconditionally appropriated by the Legislature. It is further the intent of the Legislature that funds appropriated in this bill shall come from said oil and gas lease funds.

(a) The department may appoint officers and employees as it may require for the performance of its duties and shall fix and determine their qualifications, duties, and authority. The employees of the department, except the Commissioner of Corrections and the deputy commissioners of corrections, not to exceed three, shall be subject to the law with respect to the method, selection, classification, and compensation of state employees on a basis of merit.

(b) The Department of Corrections shall not rescind any employee position with the classification of "correctional officer" and replace them with an employee of a lower classification or pay.

(c) The rules and regulations of the State Personnel Department shall not be applicable to the appointment, tenure, or compensation of physicians, surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, dentists, or allied professional supportive personnel employed by the department.

(d) The deputy commissioners and all other appointed personnel shall serve at the pleasure of the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections.

(a) The board shall require its officers and employees and those of institutions under its charge or control who may be charged with the handling of any public moneys to give bond to the state in a sum to be prescribed by the board, conditioned faithfully to account for all moneys and to disburse the same according to law, the bonds to be signed by an approved surety company and to be approved by the commissioner of the board.

(b) The premiums on the bonds shall be paid by the state.

The board shall have the power to create within the board such divisions as may be necessary for its effective administration. Each division in the board shall be headed by and be under the direction, supervision and control of an officer who shall be designated as the chief of such division. All chiefs of divisions shall be appointed by the board. Before entering upon the discharge of their duties, such chiefs of divisions shall take the constitutional oath of office. The salaries of such chiefs of divisions shall be fixed by the board, with the approval of the Governor, and shall be paid in the same manner and at the same time as the salaries of other state officers, but no one of such salaries shall exceed such amount as is provided by statute; except, that the salaries paid two physicians may not be in excess of such amount as is provided by statute. Each such officer shall devote his full time to his official duties and shall hold no other lucrative position while serving as such.

(a) The functions and duties of the board shall be:

(1) To manage, supervise and control all penal and correctional institutions, except as otherwise provided in this chapter;

(2) To sell, distribute, process or otherwise dispose of all farm products, livestock or poultry raised, or articles, goods or wares made or manufactured by use of labor or machinery under the control or supervision of the board or any personal property not needed;

(3) To inspect as often as may be deemed necessary every county jail and every municipal jail or prison in any incorporated town or city in this state having 10,000 or more population, according to the last federal census, and to aid in securing the just, humane and economic management of all such institutions;

(4) To require the erection of sanitary buildings for the accommodations of the inmates of such institutions;

(5) To investigate the management of all such institutions and the conduct and efficiency of the officers or persons charged with their management;

(6) To promulgate such rules and regulations necessary to hygiene, sanitation, cleanliness, healthfulness, feeding of prisoners, management and security of all prisons and jails;

(7) To supervise the employment of prisoners within or without the walls or enclosures of all state prisons and other state institutions housing persons convicted of crime, except prisoners in mental hospitals and asylums;

(8) To collect statistics and to make a detailed report to the Governor annually, or at such other time as the Governor may require, concerning the condition of any or all prisons and jails and the inmates thereof;

(9) To cooperate with any court having criminal jurisdiction in the administration of any law with respect to parole or probation; and

(10) To cooperate with the State Department of Human Resources in the discharge of any duties and functions which may be delegated by law to such department with reference to persons committed to state penal institutions and with reference to families or children of such persons who may be in need of public welfare services or assistance.

(b) The board shall be charged with the duty and responsibility of cooperating with all boards, agencies and institutions relating to the administration, operation, supervision and control of other penal and correctional institutions of the state in the performance of any of the functions and duties delegated to them by law. The board shall specifically be charged with the duty and responsibility of cooperating with the Department of Human Resources in the discharge of its duties with reference to the families or children of prisoners who may be in need of public welfare services or assistance. If any man or woman committed to a prison or penitentiary is, at the time of commitment, the parent of a child, or children, under 16 years of age and such child or children need the care and protection of the state, it shall be the responsibility of the board, when advised of such need, to call it to the attention of the State Department of Human Resources.

The board shall be the advisor of the Governor and the Legislature in matters relating to penal and correctional institutions, pardons and paroles and related matters. The board shall advise the Governor and the Legislature at least 30 days prior to making a decision on construction of permanent facilities or any new or existing prison site.