In 1893, the Department purchased the Williams Plantation property and used it as a farming operation in support of other prisons. Previously known as Number Four Camp and Number Four Spot, the low lying farmland is located three miles north of Montgomery, and consists of 2,385 acres of land bordered on three sides by the Tallapoosa River. During the Department’s road camp era, the facility was used to house county misdemeanants. After the old Kilby Prison was closed on January 21, 1970, Number Four Camp also closed. However, during June 1972, Number Four Honor Camp was reopened to expand the newly developed work release program’s capacity. Initially, the work release inmates were housed in barracks converted from old chicken houses. In 1976, and continuing to 1983, the facility was renovated by constructing two dormitories, which created a capacity for 264 minimum custody inmates.

Red Eagle provides about 125 inmates for free inmate labor in community service jobs on a daily basis with the state trooper’s post and central garage, the state coliseum, the Department’s central offices, and other state agencies. Red Eagle also provides about 23 inmates whom work during the week on location at statewide schools and county jails for the Alabama Correctional Industries, and return to Red Eagle on the weekend.

Red Eagle was a name given to William Weatherford, a noted leader of the Creek Indians. The facility’s property contains numerous archeological artifacts from an early Creek meeting ground. In 1976, the Chief and Council of the Creek Indian Nation gave approval to the Department to use Red Eagle’s name for the facility.