Inmate worker program shelved

State empty beds trump city’s pilot

A pilot program in Mountain Home that allowed a select group of state inmates to work for the city was suspended Wednesday by the Arkansas Board of Corrections to help fill about three dozen empty work-release beds.

The program -- which will continue to be offered in Springdale -- was set up last year and allowed Mountain Home workers to pick up the inmates at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock to take them to job sites in the community.

"On any given day, six to eight inmates in the program were picked up by the city for work," prison spokesman Cathy Frye said. "Inmates accepted into the pilot program were screened using the criteria that must be met by work-release inmates."

But inmates in the Mountain Home and Springdale programs are not officially categorized as "work-release" prisoners.

"The pilot program in Mountain Home was neither a work-release nor Act 309 program. It was something entirely new," Frye said.

The prison system currently has 36 beds out of 916 available in work-release centers around the state that are not being used.

The North Central Unit inmates will be given the option of transferring to one of the official work-release centers in the state, which would open up their beds at Calico Rock to other prisoners, Frye said.

Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley told the board Wednesday that not enough inmates were able to meet the stringent requirements to participate in the work-release program, which had led to consistently empty beds.

To be eligible, inmates must be up for parole within 42 months, have no major disciplinary infractions for the previous three months, meet medical classification standards and have minimum security status.

Inmates convicted of capital offenses such as first-degree murder, rape or kidnapping; sex offenders; those with an undisposed felony detainer; or those convicted of a felony escape are not eligible.

Kelley asked the board to suspend the Mountain Home program until all empty beds at the work-release centers were filled.

Board Chairman Benny Magness said Mountain Home "didn't do anything wrong" to merit the suspension; it was just a matter of using resources.

"It's my passion to keep inmates working," Magness said.

Board member Mary Parker-Reed said the Mountain Home program was a pilot, and at this point the board would need to either expand it or suspend its operation.

"It seems like we're punishing Mountain Home if we suspend this," Parker said. "I don't think we have a choice."

Messages left for Mountain Home Mayor Joe Dillard were not returned immediately Wednesday.

Metro on 07/30/2015

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