If the number of jail inmates doesn’t decrease, then jailers’ options will, according to the executive of the state’s biggest jail.
Pulaski County Sheriff Doc Holladay warned local law enforcement agencies late Thursday that if he has 1,300 or more inmates at his jail, which has a capacity of 1,210, then he will have no option but to “close” the jail and severely limit the types of offenders his facility will accept.
The sheriff’s office, like many in the state, is at a breaking point, according to Holladay, who has been battling crowding problems since late last summer.
Holladay said he has done what he could to accommodate an influx of state prisoners either waiting to go to prison or being held at the request of the state’s parole agency. That influx is the result of the state prison system that has been operating over capacity for months and now has 2,474 inmates waiting in jails to get a space in prison.
Of those waiting, 521 are languishing under Holladay’s roof, he said.
The sheriff said that despite efforts by state agencies, he doesn’t see anything happening that will alleviate the glut.
“In the past [state prison and community corrections officials] have had some availability, but they’re tapped out, they have no place to turn,” Holladay said. “I’ve got to believe that there’s no immediate relief.”
Averaging 1,270 inmates a day in April, and having more than 1,300 every day in the past week, Holladay said he can’t afford to put jailers or inmates in danger from the tension overcrowding creates. He also cited the added costs to his agency for housing, meals and medical treatment for so many more prisoners.
“I don’t have the resources to operate a 1,400- or 1,500-bed jail, and if we don’t do something to take control of this population that’s where we’re headed,” Holladay said. “They’ll keep coming if we keep taking them. At some point, I have to say as an administrator: Enough is enough.”
Holladay said that if the head count hits 1,300 Monday, his office will be able to find room only for people accused of the most violent or serious of offenses.
While those accused of murder, robbery, rape, domestic battery and offenses involving firearms or dangerous weapons will be booked in to the jail, police will have to find somewhere else to house people arrested in thefts, burglaries, drug deals and other nonviolent offenses.
“We’re not opening the doors or closing the facility, but we’ll have to limit access,” Holladay said. “Law enforcement won’t stop arresting people but they may not be able to lock up those they’d like to … it’s not a good situation.”
Nor is it one faced by Holladay alone.
After receiving Holladay’s warning, Little Rock City Manager Bruce Moore alerted other city officials that the city’s options are limited.
“The City’s Plan A has been the Faulkner County Jail. However, Faulkner County is full,” Moore wrote referring to other jails that have taken Little Rock prisoners. “Plan B is Grant County and they are full. … We are getting to a point where the County will only be taking the most serious offenders.”
Ronnie Baldwin, head of the state’s sheriff’s association, said nearly every sheriff’s office is bearing some of the strain of the prison overcrowding.
“The county jails are full. We’re going to work and see what we can do to get [Holladay] relief in any way possible … but it’s an issue,” Baldwin said. “We have been overcrowded for months and months and months. … Our pens are full. We’re working, but like [Holladay] said, they can only do so much.”
When Holladay took office, the jail had restrictions on what type of arrestees could be housed. Holladay said the jail has been able to accept all arrestees for nearly three years.
Baldwin said that overcrowding has often been an issue in his experience as a sheriff.
But the severity of the lack of space is unprecedented, according to Baldwin, who points to parole changes last summer that placed greater sanctions on parole violators, increased revocations, and required many parole violators to be held in county jails until they could attend a revocation hearing.
Last April, the number of state prisoners in jails was 366. That number climbed to 1,000 in August and is now at 2,474.
Dina Tyler, deputy director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Community Correction, said her agency has done what it could to alleviate strain on jails, but at a certain point, options run out.
“We’re full. [State prisons] are full. The county [jail] is full. We’ve reached the brick wall,” Tyler said. “This … wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Granted, there were [last year’s changes], those policies have a lot to do with this … but it’s growth everywhere.”
Tyler, a former state prisons official, said that on average, Arkansas prisons took in 6,500 to 7,500 new offenders every year. In 2013, there were around 9,200.
“Everybody is bursting at the seams,” Tyler said. “This is everybody’s problem.”
As of Friday, the state’s prisons held 14,669, which is 1,104 prisoners past their capacity.
Shea Wilson, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, said that her agency has taken several steps to ease the burden on counties, including opening up space for 200 prisoners paid for by a funding increase approved by the Legislature during the fiscal session.
But there is only so much space that can be found through maneuvering.
“We’ll only have six beds open Monday and four of those will come from Pulaski County,” Wilson said. “We know [jails] are hurting, but we are, too. We’re all in this together and we’re all looking at any solutions and possibilities.”
The most immediate help would be a new prison. Wilson said her agency is trying to line up funding for a 1,000-bed facility, as well as renovate an unused facility that will have space for 328,but those solutions are further down the road and will come with a cost.
“[Finding space] for 80 to 100 inmates is not a lot but it’s some,” Wilson said. “A 1,000-bed facility will make a big difference. … We’ll find bed space where we can … [but] until we get those new dollars, there’s not going to be a long-term difference.”
Tyler’s agency has 500 ankle monitors for low-risk parolees facing new nonviolent charges to ease overcrowding. She thinks it’s possible that the Board of Correction might allow for some tweaks to parole policies that could alleviate the strain but that public safety is tantamount.
“There are two possible solutions,” Tyler said. “You build more space or you let more people go. Which do you want to do ?”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/26/2014