ASHDOWN — Reopening the Little River County jail should save the county about $125,000 annually and create about seven jobs, County Judge Clayton Castleman said.
Renovating the jail is expected to cost about $1.2 million and be complete by mid-March. The work includes a new roof, plumbing, electrical wiring, new prisoner cells and an outdoor exercise area.
The renovation will allow the jail to house 23 prisoners, which is almost double its former capacity.
The jail is on the southwest side of Little River County Courthouse square. The courthouse is about two blocks west of U.S. 71, near the intersection of the highway and Main and Commerce streets.
The Little River County Quorum Court voluntarily closed the jail Dec. 31, 2009, after the Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee for the 9th Judicial District West ordered the closure. The committee had compiled a list of violations of state jail standards, including chronic overcrowding, lack of an exercise area and inadequate facilities for food preparation and laundry.
“The committee found the jail to be very inadequate to meet the needs of Little River County and is a potential lawsuit waiting to happen. Because the jail continues to be less than Arkansas State Jail Standards allows, the committee voted unanimously to ask the Attorney General’s Office to file suit to close this jail immediately,” states the letter from the review committee in 2009.
In a special election Oct. 13, 2009, Little River County voters rejected a three-eighth percent sales tax to build a new jail by a 894-754 vote. The proposed tax was listed as temporary with a 29-year sunset clause.
Voters also rejected a oneeighth percent sales tax for operating the jail.
The renovations under way are being funded with loans and county money. About $300,000 will come from the county’s emergency fund, $200,000 from the sales tax fund and $100,000 from fines designated for jail operation and maintenance.
The county has borrowed the remaining $600,000 from First National Bank on a fiveyear note, with annual payments of about $130,000 coming out of the general fund.
The county also has agreements with area businesses to provide services at the jail. Little River Memorial Hospital will provide meals for prisoners, and Little River County Nursing Home will provide laundry service.
“We can bring the meals over to the jail already prepared. The hospital has a dietitian on board and can meet the standards for the jail. It’s a win-win situation,” Castleman said. “The prisoners can eat balanced meals. It’s not expensive. The dietitian can provide the calories and necessary nutrition. Providing a kitchen would have been expensive. We would have had to buy commercial kitchen equipment.”
The county will reimburse the hospital and nursing home for their services. Castleman said having the hospital provide meals will lead to another change at the jail. “It will allow us to switch the kitchen area to a booking area. The old booking area can be turned into a day room,” he said.
Castleman said housing prisoners within the county will also reduce medical expenses, since Little River Memorial’s medical services tend to cost less than at area hospitals.
“We paid a bill for two of our inmates, which cost $30,000,” Castleman said about taking inmates to hospitals outside the county. “One inmate had gallbladder surgery, and another got into a fight and had a leg broken.”
Castleman said the county could create up to seven jobs at the reopened jail, with a total payroll of $250,000.
Since the jail closed, Little River County has been transferring prisoners to surrounding counties using vans the county had to purchase for secure transports. Prisoners have been taken to jails in Miller, Sevier, Howard, Hempstead and Lafayette counties and to Bowie County’s jail space at Bi-State Justice Building in Texarkana, Texas.
The Little River sheriff’s office has had as many as 60 prisoners held in other jails, Castleman said. In the past 11 months, the expenses for medicine, dental and hospital care has cost the county $52,000. Add to that $22,000 in fuel costs, he said.
“You can see it costs a lot of money to house prisoners in other jails,” Castleman said.
The Little River County jail will house prisoners serving time for misdemeanor convictions, as well as prisoners who have court dates and have not made bail.
Inmates waiting to be transferred to a state prison will be sent to the Lafayette County jail, which is larger than the Little River jail.
“Sheriff Victor Rose has worked with us. We will get reimbursed by the state for inmates going to prison, and we then pay Lafayette County,” Castleman said.
Arkansas, Pages 20 on 12/23/2012