Razing possible for dilapidated prison chapel

By By Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

TUCKER — A prison chapel built when Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller started a decades-long push to overhaul the state's "barbaric prison system" could be razed after falling into disrepair.

The chapel, its pitched brown roof visible from the farm fields surrounding the state's Tucker Unit, sits in a low spot prone to flooding. Seeping water over time separated the church from its foundation, rotting away its wooden floor and allowing the occasional snake to slither inside the chapel.

Prison director Larry Norris told lawmakers on a tour Tuesday of Tucker's nearby maximum-security unit that trying to rehabilitate the chapel appeared to be an expensive proposition.

"There are a contingent of folks that want to try to preserve it," Norris said. "And there are others who think it's a good idea to come up with a plan to build a new building at a different place so we don't have to wrestle snakes and that kind of thing."

After the tour, Norris put the cost of repairing into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even then, the director said, the building would fall victim to floodwaters each time a nearby bayou spills over after hard rains in Tucker, about 30 miles southeast of Little Rock.

Also, state law mandates that prison officials can spend money only on "multipurpose buildings" that would include conference room space and other amenities besides a sanctuary, Norris said. To build a replacement chapel, the prison system would need private donations.

"We're going to make the best decision we can," Norris said. "You have to raise private money to build a chapel, which would in these times be tough."

Prisoners helped build the chapel in 1968, a year after Rockefeller, a Republican, became governor. For years, all state inmates funneled through the gates of the Cummins and Tucker prison farms, where shotgun-wielding inmates guarded other prisoners and meted out whippings and torture.

Rockefeller acknowledged the state probably had "the most barbaric prison system in the United States" and began overhaul efforts. During that process, he gave money to help construct the Tucker chapel, said Bob Scott, who served as Rockefeller's prison liaison.

In 1970, U.S. District Judge J. Smith Henley found the entire state prison system unconstitutional, calling it a "dark and evil world." It took the state into the 1980s to come out of the federal supervision Henley imposed.

State Sen. Bobby Glover, who led lawmakers visiting the maximum-security unit, questioned why prison officials hadn't mentioned earlier that the chapel had fallen into disrepair.

"I don't know why, from time to time, they didn't ask for additional (budget) appropriations" for the building, said Glover, D-Carlisle. "I guess they thought they were fighting a losing cause and consequently, they just didn't keep it maintained."

Despite earning national accreditation, the state prison system is haunted by chronic staff turnover, a recent escape by two convicted murderers wearing guard uniforms and allegations of guard misconduct. However, lawmakers who once called for a subpoena-powered investigation into the problems responded deferentially to Norris and other prison officials during the tour and a brief meeting.

Even that meeting included a brief history lessons about the prison system. One slide showed the black-and-white image of a trusty inmate cradling a rifle, watching other prisoners.

"Inmates carried weapons inside the prison!" the photo's caption read. "You will never see this again!"