Judge lets fly vexation over jail

Offenders turned away; bail unpaid

By Jacob Quinn Sanders

Frustrated with the inability of the Pulaski County justice system to keep in jail people court-ordered to be there, Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle wrote a strongly worded letter to city officials last week sharing her thoughts after nine months on the criminal bench.

A first-term, criminal-law judge who had little experience in that area before she took office in January, Lightle focused on prisoners for whom she set bail but who never had to pay it because the jail turned them away citing a lack of space.

"The absurdity of this arrangement is obvious since many, perhaps even most, never report back to post any sort of bond," she wrote in the letter, which is a page and a half long and dated Sept. 21. "As far as I can tell the jail keeps no record of those who have been 'turned away' and given reservation dates" to reappear later and post bond or enter the jail as a prisoner.