PINE BLUFF -- About 288 Arkansas inmates will be shipped to a Texas prison run by a private company if the Legislature approves the funding.
A contract with the Bowie County jail in Texarkana, Texas, to house Arkansas Department of Correction inmates at $36 per day plus a $2.42 per day medical coverage stipend was unanimously approved at a special telephone meeting Monday by the Arkansas Board of Corrections.
The cost is just more than the $30 per day the state pays to local jails to house inmates but less than the $60 average per day per inmate that the state prison estimates it costs to house inmates in prisons.
The decision comes just days after Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the Bowie County transfer in his $32 million proposal to ease prison and county jail overcrowding and a strained parole system.
Hutchinson's three-pronged plan -- which would find 790 beds for prisoners, pay for 500 beds at "re-entry centers" and increase parole staffing -- takes the place of a previous prison system proposal for a new 1,000-bed, $100 million new prison facility.
The state's prisons are at 107 percent of their 14,331 inmate capacity, with 15,341 prisoners according to the latest count released. There are about 2,631 state prisoners being held in county jails.
Hutchinson specifically said housing prisoners in the Texas jail would be just the start of the plan that also includes opening 124 beds at other facilities and opening the existing but unfunded 178 beds at the Ester Unit in Pine Bluff by Dec. 31. About 200 beds would be added with the proposal to create regional jails in which the state would have to contract with counties.
Arkansas Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley estimated Monday that, with the funding approved, the 288 inmates will move to the Bowie County facility by March.
The plan at this point is to transfer prisoners to the Texas facility who are ready for parole and are not involved in existing pre-release programs, Kelley told the board. She added that Bowie County offers some religious and GED programs, but the facility will not have enough work to "keep our inmates busy."
The Bowie County jail facilities were previously used to house Arkansas inmates from 2000 to 2004. The collaboration ended when more beds became available in the Arkansas prison system.
Kelley said Monday that while there are no Arkansas prison monitors in the Texas facility, she toured the site and found "nothing alarming."
The contract also allows for an Arkansas Department of Correction monitor, internal affairs administrator, members of the Board of Corrections and the prison director the right to inspect the areas housing Arkansas prisoners at any time.
Arkansas prison officials will also be notified within three working days of any disciplinary actions taken against Arkansas prisoners, and the Texas prison officials will provide conduct and progress reports on each Arkansas inmate every six months, according to the contract.
Board member Bobby Glover questioned how difficult it would be to get out of the 2015 contract and was told it was a temporary solution with a 30-day termination notice clause.
"We all accept the fact that the types of service and skills we provide are not going to match theirs, but we really do not have a choice," Glover said.
The Bowie County jail is operated by the private company LaSalle Corrections out of Louisiana.
Under state law, the prison system must bid out private jail management services. However, Kelley told the board that the contract was with Bowie County and it was not necessary to send out a Request for Proposals since a public entity was being used.
"It's critical that we get some help," board member Buddy Chadick said. "Everything we try to do gets eaten up."