Parole Office Staying Put

Shooting Delay The Alabama Probation and Parole office will "NOT" move out of the Bay Haas building in Midtown Mobile by September as planned.

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Thu, July 23, 2009 - 5:05 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, July 23, 2009 - 5:12 pm CST

The Probation and Parole office will "not" move out of the Bay Haas building in Midtown Mobile by September as planned.

This is the third delay in the relocation of that office and its more than frustrating for people who live nearby. They were told that the office was moving in July and then in September. Now they wonder if Probation and Parole will ever get out.

Neighbors have been complaining about the office since an escapee was shot and killed behind a house last November.

That deadly shooting happened in Michael Parker's backyard. He says something needs to be done soon. "I know it's a big undertaking the get the department out but it's a real hazard to the neighborhood. We don't need people like that running loose."

Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood suggested moving the office to the old Mobile General Hospital building on Broad Street at St. Anthony Street but that didn't work. Some state employees toured the place and claimed that they needed more private offices instead of the cubicles that were set up inside.

Ludgood says renovating that building would cost too much money. "Based on the kind of operations that they do and confidentiality, they need a confined space which means dropping walls."

Ludgood says they're now looking at moving the office into the First National Bank building in Downtown Mobile or adding more security and putting up a fence around the Bay Haas building. Ludgood says the fence could cost almost $200,000!

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