Board OKs liquid detergent in prison
The state prison system will now have the option of using liquid laundry detergent -- as opposed to the current powder detergent in use.
The Board of Corrections gave the go-ahead at its April meeting to allow Arkansas Correctional Industries to start offering the new product.
The change came after several of the company's customers were asked what new products they would like to have available, Industry Administrator Robert Carter wrote in his proposal. Current customers include state and local government entities, tax-supported and nonprofit agencies, and state employees.
The prices range from $16.52 for a case of four one-gallon containers to $169.40 for a 55-gallon drum.
New work center for women open
The Department of Correction's new work-release center for women on 13th Street in Pine Bluff opened Saturday with 54 female prisoners being transferred to the facility this week.
The department's work-release program, which is designed for inmates who are within 30 months of parole, will accept only those with nonviolent convictions and clean disciplinary records.
The inmates will hold paid jobs with SAJ Distributors Inc. in Pine Bluff, Tyson Foods and AmeriPride in Little Rock. The income earned will allow them to partially reimburse the state for their care and custody. One-third of an inmate's take-home pay will also be given to any dependents they may have, prison spokesman Cathy Frye said in a news release.
"While most of the remaining money is held until the inmate's release, a portion is allotted for purchases from the commissary," Frye said.
The transfers will allow the Department of Correction to begin moving women from county jails into the prison beds left vacant by inmates transferred to the new facility.
Grant allows for hearings on Web
The Arkansas Parole Board was awarded a $17,124 grant from the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District for general improvement funds.
The grant monies will be used to place all the board's hearing results on the organization's website for public viewing, administrative services manager Solomon Graves said at the Parole Board's Thursday meeting.
Graves emphasized that placing the public information on the website is separate from the Public Safety Transparency and Accountability Act of 2015 proposed by Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, that became Act 1265 on April 9.
Program teaches inmates business
Arkansas Baptist College and the Hidden Creek Opportunity Center -- a Little Rock transitional living facility sponsored by Fellowship Bible Church -- teamed up to build a Re-Entry School for Entrepreneurship.
The program, which teaches recently released inmates the basics of starting and managing their own business, will be held on the Arkansas Baptist College campus in Little Rock.
The goal is to reduce recidivism rates by increasing opportunities for education, employment and community involvement. Seven southeast Arkansas center residents and three central Arkansas center residents were selected through a selection process to attend the first Principles of Entrepreneurship class.
The Correction Department has been providing Arkansas Baptist College with nine inmates who work half days Monday through Friday. In exchange, the historically black college currently has 34 inmates involved in educational programs -- including the Re-Entry School for Entrepreneurship -- at the college.
12 beds to open at Newport unit
The Corrections Board approved the addition of 12 beds to the Grimes Unit in Newport, bringing the facility's capacity up to 1,012.
Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley said the increase was made possible by renovating rooms that had previously been used for other purposes by Wackenhut, a security provider for the system.
New bar doors were built for the rooms to provide six cells with two beds each, Kelley said.
Tractors, combine for prison get OK
The Correction Department's agricultural division has purchased two tractors and renewed the lease for one year on a combine and grain header.
The Corrections Board gave the go-ahead to the purchase from Progressive Tractor and Implement of McGehee of two Case IH Puma 130 tractors with front-end loaders at a cost of $115,750 each and to extend the lease of an AFX 8240 Class 8 Combine with a Case IH grain header for $221,580.
The prison system took advantage of an option on its previous contract with Progressive Tractor and Implement to purchase the tractors less the residual value of the equipment at the end of their lease terms.
The Agriculture Division intends to purchase the combine at the end of the second lease.
The equipment lease terms with the company are for one year but renewable for up to three years. The equipment at the end of each year is returned and replaced with new-year models. The Correction Department pays $407,287 each year for a total of 12 pieces of equipment.
Inmates on GPS to pay fee per day
Inmates and offenders who are placed on GPS monitoring will now be charged from $2 to $4.10 a day as a way to offset costs to Arkansas Community Correction.
The new charge will only affect offenders who are placed on GPS monitoring as a special condition of their parole and those inmates who are placed in a transitional re-entry center, said Dina Tyler, the deputy director of the Community Correction Department.
The parole-stipulated employees will start paying the fee immediately, while re-entry center inmates will be on GPS monitoring the first day they arrive at the center but will not start paying for it themselves until the 45th day. The re-entry provider is required to have the inmates employed between 30 and 45 days after they begin the program.
State Desk on 04/22/2015