A legislative panel Thursday signed off on a request by state Sen. Eddie Joe Williams for the Arkansas Legislative Audit to conduct a special review of the state Department of Correction's farm program.
Williams, a Republican from Cabot, said he wants legislative auditors to review the program and provide information to help lawmakers decide whether it makes sense for the more-than-century-old program to continue.
"I'm getting feedback that we are continuing to make radical changes in the prison farm program," he told the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee's Executive Committee.
There are a lot of questions surrounding the prison's farm program, including whether it is a moneymaker and whether it is worthwhile, Williams said. He said he's heard that thousands of chickens being raised by the department died from the heat on a single day earlier this summer.
"In 2015, do we still need to be in the farming business? I don't know. If you asked that question 50 years ago, [the answer] was unequivocally yes. There is no question," Williams said.
After the legislative panel's meeting, Correction Department Director Wendy Kelley said the department will provide any information sought by legislative auditors.
"The department continues to improve in all areas of operation," Kelly said in a written statement. "It also continuously reviews all operations for efficiency while taking multiple factors into account."
The farms grow rice, corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat and oats, while the livestock division produces beef, pork, milk and eggs. The vegetable division raises more than 500 acres of assorted crops, said department spokesman Cathy Frye.
Any profits from the department's farm operations "are reinvested into the farms" and "that money is used to update equipment and buildings and make improvements, she said.
Frye said the the state bought 10,000 acres for $140,000 for the Cummins farm in 1902 and inmates moved there the same year. She said 4,400 acres for the Tucker farm were purchased in 1916.
In his written request to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, Williams said he wants Arkansas Legislative Audit to provide information about how the farm program is managed, including "key differences noted from the private sector such as the use of inmate labor, inmate and animal consumption of farm produce and the use of state funds."
He said he also wants the auditors to review the accuracy and completeness of the farm's financial records, compare the crop production with known benchmarks published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, review expenses for reasonableness, review large purchases such as tractors, combines and chicken houses, and determine whether other state prison systems have farm programs and find out their financial results.
But state Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said that "it still feels to me as if we are circumventing the ability of the [Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee] to have that same information and think more thoughtfully about this as a committee."
Referring to the 100 people in the Arkansas House and the 35 in the Senate, Elliott said, "I am not saying that Sen. Williams is abusing this at all. But I can clearly see where this could just become 135 people just starting to get stuff and [saying], 'Let's go do this,' and totally circumventing a hearing in a committee that should be the one of record here."
Williams is chairman of the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Elliott serves on that committee.
But Rep. David Hillman, D-Almyra, countered that a review of the farm program is within the purview of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
The farm raises and feeds the chickens and collects the eggs to serve to the prisoners, he said.
"Is it not prudent of this committee to ask them, 'Is that really the most efficient way to serve eggs to those prisoners?' Perhaps it would be more efficient to get rid of the chickens and not feed them and buy the eggs at the local grocery store," said Hillman, who is a farmer.
Metro on 09/18/2015