Sheriffs seek special session on jails

Overcrowding so bad, group urges cap on state convicts

Citing a growing threat to public safety and its members' reduced ability to enforce the law, the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association called upon the governor and lawmakers Wednesday to hold a special legislative session this summer to address jail and prison overcrowding.

The group is seeking a cap on the number of state inmates allowed at county jails, as well as funding for private facilities -- which would be outside Arkansas -- to house state inmates through the next fiscal year.

"We are in crisis mode," said Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, who is second vice president of the Sheriffs' Association.

An unprecedented 17.7 percent increase in the Arkansas prison population last year created backlogs of state offenders being held in county jails. The inmates are awaiting transfer to the state Department of Correction, whose units are also overcrowded.

Wednesday, more than 2,714 state inmates were being held in county jails across the state, according to the Sheriffs' Association. The group, composed of the sheriffs of all 75 Arkansas counties, wants to limit that number to 1,600 statewide.

"That mark is something we believe we can handle," Montgomery said, noting that the jails will always expect some backlog of state offenders.

The Sheriffs' Association also wants onetime funding for the Correction Department to contract private, out-of-state facilities to hold certain inmates through September 2015. That would cost Arkansas less than the $28 per day it reimburses county jails for holding state offenders, according to Sheriffs' Association Executive Director Ronnie Baldwin.

"It's unmanageable," Baldwin said of the current jail and prison situation. "The state has no more beds. Even if they had funding for a new prison, if you stick a shovel in the ground today, it's going be in excess of two years before they get it built. This is the only outlet we see as getting immediate relief."

Arkansas has not used private prisons since 2001, when the state ended its contract with Wackenhut Corrections Corp.

The Board of Corrections would have to approve a measure to contract a private prison. Shea Wilson, Correction Department spokesman, said late Wednesday that she had not reviewed the Sheriffs' Association's proposal and could not comment.

Matt Decample, spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said that for a special session to be held, a clear legislative proposal is needed from the Sheriffs' Association, as well as consensus among General Assembly members that the issue warrants immediate attention.

When more rigorous parole and probation policies were instituted in the state last year, "short term" backlogs were expected in jails, Decample said.

"I know we've been looking to see how that has continued, as far as what figures have contributed to the backup that has been sustained in county jails," he said.

While the state has found 382 additional spaces for inmates, "that has not done near enough to solve the overcrowding issue," Decample said.

Pulaski County Sheriff Doc Holladay closed the state's largest county lockup to nonviolent, nonfelony offenders on April 29 in an attempt to taper the facility's swollen population. Since then, there have still been 10 days when the facility was over its set capacity of 1,210 inmates. On any given day, between 25 percent and 40 percent of the jail's population are state inmates.

Holladay said that the jail population is being monitored daily and that it was unclear when the facility might begin holding low-level offenders again. Until then, they will be fingerprinted and released after their arrest.

Other sheriffs "don't want to do it," but they've considered closing their jails to low-level offenders, too, said Montgomery, the Baxter County sheriff.

The Crawford County jail recently released 26 felony inmates because of a lack of space, according to the Sheriffs' Association.

Montgomery said that in Baxter County, it's a "typical weekend" when inmates sleep on floor mats. Wednesday, 39 percent of the inmates at the 101-bed facility were awaiting space at the Correction Department.

In Hempstead County on Wednesday, 40 of the jail's 100 inmates were awaiting transfer to the Correction Department.

Meanwhile, in Newton County, a jail built in 2012 that can hold as many as 40 inmates, sat unused. Residents voted to build the $1.2 million facility but twice voted not to fund its operation and maintenance.

"Every sheriff is in the same situation," Montgomery said of the inmate overload. "Each one of the sheriffs, of course, has been contacting legislators and urging them to look at the problem."

If a special session isn't called, lawmakers won't meet again until Jan. 12.

Metro on 06/05/2014

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