HOT SPRINGS -- Garland County and state officials say they are conducting a review to determine whether the use of inmate labor by the food service provider at the county jail violates a contract and a work-release program for state inmates.
The contract with Trinity Services Group may be amended to explicitly authorize the use of state inmates as support staff, county officials said. The inmates are part of an Arkansas Department of Correction program that assigns prisoners who would otherwise be in state prisons to work in county jails and law enforcement agencies.
Twenty of the 22 female inmate workers assigned to the county work in the jail's kitchen. One works at the sheriff's office, and one is the jail's seamstress. The agreement prohibits inmates from being used for private benefit or to supplement or replace government employees.
"State law provides that assigned inmates are allowed to work jobs which directly benefit the jail facility and to perform tasks which benefit governmental entities or nonprofit organizations within the county," said Solomon Graves, a state prison system spokesman. "The ADC is continuing to gather information about the contract between Garland County and Trinity in order to ensure the proper assignment of ADC inmates."
Trinity's contract makes it responsible for hiring all employees, stipulating it is responsible for cleaning food service equipment and food preparation and storage areas.
"As in any contract, it could be interpreted in a number of ways," County Attorney John Howard told justices of the peace recently. "There are ways you can look at the contract, and it can be completely within the bounds of it. And the other way you look at it, and it's not in the bounds of what's required."
Metro on 05/31/2019