The prison and parolee population is growing faster in Arkansas than any other state, national criminal justice experts said Monday.
Analysts from the Council of State Governments Justice Center told lawmakers and members of the recently formed Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force on Monday that between 2004 and 2013, Arkansas' per capita incarceration rate climbed 17 percent.
They met the same day that the state parole board gathered to discuss other changes aimed, in part, at easing prison crowding.
During a period when the state's total crime rate dropped by 3 percent, Arkansas' criminal population climbed by 26 percent, according to Andy Barbee, a Council analyst.
In the same time period, the number of Arkansans on parole increased nearly 66 percent -- from 14,770 to 24,523.
Overall, 962 out of every 100,000 Arkansans were on parole, a higher percentage than every state but Pennsylvania.
"It raises questions about caseloads for officers," Barbee told task-force members at the hearing, held in Little Rock. "When caseload averages go up, so do the number of recommendations for [parole] revocations. Officers feel overwhelmed by the caseloads and the challenges."
Barbee argued that before lawmakers and policy experts can fix the prison crowding problem in the state, one fueled by a surge of parole revocations and recidivism, they need to take a deep look at their own data, as well as look at what other states have done to tackle similar problems.
Barbee said his group has helped 21 other states as they've worked to cut prison populations and decrease recidivism, and that Arkansas could learn from efforts in other states and implement ideas that have worked elsewhere.
At the same meeting, Gov. Asa Hutchinson told task-force members he is counting on them to find long-term solutions to the crowding and recidivism problems.
"[What] you see in other states that seem to be similarly situated to ours in the South is they're not having the same challenges we're having," Hutchinson said. "In fact, their prison population is stabilized while ours is going up. Not only do we have a real problem, but it's complex in knowing the answers and the challenges and what adjustments need to be made."
Hutchinson, who pushed through a series of changes to state law aimed at curbing recidivism while also increasing the number of prison beds, said that it's too early to tell if the changes are working.
Meanwhile, efforts are also underway to address problems in the parole system.
Earlier Monday, the Arkansas Parole Board approved a series of policy changes aimed at expediting the parole review and revocation process, as well as policies aimed at creating alternatives for uncooperative parolees that could get them to comply with the conditions of their release without sending them into an already crowded prison system.
Parole Board administrator Solomon Graves told members of the board that the new language, as mandated by Act 1239 of 2015, will put tight deadlines on parole officials and require them to submit violator reports earlier, and also will require the board to hold a revocation hearing within 14 days after the board issues a warrant for an offender.
The new rules, Graves said, would also emphasize alternative means of treating or disciplining parolees instead of sending them back to prison.
For some offenders, "the only thing that will work for them is a cell, and we're going to find a cell for them," Graves said. "But those that might be treated better or served better in a residential treatment program, or in a day reporting center, or in some other alternative ... we want to make sure we have clear policy language that says those alternatives need to be considered."
The board also approved language that could send a revoked parolee to a boot camp run by the Arkansas Department of Correction instead of to a prison bed.
If the parolee fails to pass the 105-day program, he would return to prison and serve another six months.
After Monday's meeting, Graves said that the changes were only the first of many to come.
Metro on 07/14/2015