With little fanfare, legislators on Tuesday approved a $7.4 million plan to add 200 prison beds in Pine Bluff.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson had proposed the measure at a meeting of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association on July 27. He said it would help reduce the county jail backup.
No legislators spoke against the measure during an Arkansas Legislative Council subcommittee meeting. No "nays" were audible during a voice vote to approve the measure.
"The governor has been leading the effort," said Rep. David Meeks, R-Conway, co-chairman of the performance evaluation and expenditure review subcommittee. "The governor is concerned and wants to make sure, No. 1, that these folks we're letting out of prison don't come back to prison."
The $7.4 million is in addition to a $33 million overhaul plan the Legislature approved earlier this year.
That plan increased the bed space for prisoners, invested in more parole officers and called for court strategies to reduce prison populations in the long term.
The plan aims to reduce recidivism rates while finding additional space for prisoners, instead of spending $100 million on construction of a new 1,000-bed prison.
The overhaul came as more stringent parole policies led to a boom in parole revocations.
Over the course of 2013, the county jail backup went from 344 to 2,510 prisoners, according to documents released at a meeting of the Arkansas Sentencing Commission earlier this month.
Since 2014, between 2,000 and 3,000 state prisoners have been held in county jails.
In July, the backup was 2,556 -- an increase of 134 inmates from January -- documents show. Over that time period, more than 500 additional prison beds have been put in place.
Hutchinson noted in July that though some beds have opened up, parts of the plan, like 500 beds for soon-to-be parolees at regional "re-entry centers," were not yet on line.
"I said at the very beginning, there's no guarantee that any of this will change behavior, will lead to the results that we desire, but we've got to try this investment and I'm still confident that we can make it work," he said. "I would say that it's on target. The ultimate outcome is too early to tell."
The Republican governor said he hoped to see changes in the number of prisoners in county jails by early next year.
Hutchinson is holding a "Hope Summit" for faith leaders to discuss foster care and prison re-entry Tuesday and next Wednesday at the Little Rock Marriott.
"I realized very quickly that when you look at the resources of the state and the capacity of the state that we can't get the job done effectively for our children and for those that are trying to re-enter society," Hutchinson said in July to announce the summit.
"We cannot do it simply as a state government. We need to enlist partners in order to accomplish this mission."
Metro on 08/19/2015