Proposed program for drug offenders meets resistance in North Little Rock

The Pulaski County sheriff's office has worked over the past couple of years to reduce recidivism, with a diversion center in North Little Rock targeted as the next big step, but last week residents and officials rejected an attempt to open such a center.

A special-use permit request for an educational diversion facility for female first-time drug offenders at 1401 Main St. in North Little Rock failed to receive a recommendation from the Planning Commission after almost an hour of discussion. Commissioners voted down the request, 8-1.

Failure to get a recommendation means the applicant, Supha Xayprasith-Mays, president and CEO of Inclusion Jobs, will have to find a City Council member to sponsor the proposal.

The idea for such a facility came from the sheriff's office, said Mallory Goff, a reentry coordinator for the office. She said Sheriff Eric Higgins has been proactive in trying to find ways to reduce recidivism, including a 12-week program that prepares inmates who are about to be released, but he wanted to do more.

Goff said Higgins wants to create a diversion center to allow first-time female drug offenders to take classes, which range from hygiene to career readiness, while awaiting their court dates. She said the idea for the facility came up after the sheriff's office analyzed the current situation in the jail and the need for outside housing.

"A lot of times when these people are released, they are going back to unfavorable situations," Goff said. "This was an attempt to address some of that."

Higgins decided to partner with Xayprasith-Mays to create the Inclusion Women Wellness Empowerment Life Center at her business building.

Goff said that women accepted into the program after an intense vetting process would spend 90 days at the facility and have access to an additional six months of professional classes.

"We knew [Xayprasith-Mays] had been extremely successful at helping women in the past," Goff said.

Xayprasith-Mays said her company places an emphasis on empowering women and young people, and she said it made sense when Higgins approached her about forming a partnership. Plans called for an educational, training and development center that also included a residency component for 10 women. She said the women wouldn't be allowed to leave the facility because technically they still would be incarcerated.

"This is during the waiting period for their sentencing," she said. "It allows a judge to ask them what they have done since being arrested, and they can tell them they were at the Inclusion facility and this is what they have learned."

Xayprasith-Mays said the center would have staff members on-site around the clock and that guests wouldn't have been permitted on the grounds.

Goff, Xayprasith-Mays and her attorney, former North Little Rock Mayor Pat Hays, spoke to the Planning Commission while making the request for the special-use permit, but people who lived near the site expressed displeasure.

Residents' complaints ranged from a lack of communication about what was being planned to concerns about safety and a potential decline in property values.

"I think we all agree we want to help people who need help, but why this location?" said Ken Davenport, a representative for two homeowners in the area. "Is this area safe being next to the new high school? Is that being considered? Also keep in mind that we have a lot of students who go to the Boys and Girls Club walking through the area where this facility will be located."

"They are developing up the area in Argenta, but this seems like backwards development for us," Davenport added.

Hays said he had heard the same concerns when an alcohol recovery center was built in the city, but none of those concerns have come to pass.

"I know the fear and appreciate the concern," the former mayor said. "It's the old remedy not in my backyard, but sometimes we got to take a little bit of a risk."

Commission members also added restrictions, including a review of the special-use permit every two years and a requirement for a perimeter fence and security cameras.

"They are talking about property values, and I was the one willing to make my office building look like a jail," Xayprasith-Mays said in a telephone interview.

Steve White, vice chairman of the Planning Commission, called for a vote after the idea of postponing the decision was brought up by another commission member.

"I don't see how we can think to allow this," White said. "This is an area that can go either way right now. It's in-between, and it doesn't need anything to push it. This is Main Street in North Little Rock, and it's the only one we got."

Don Chambers was the only commissioner to vote in support of the facility.

Goff said she was surprised by the reaction from the community.

"I am not sure they completely understood what we were trying to do," she said.

Xayprasith-Mays said supporters of the proposal could have done a better job of communicating with the community, but added that she didn't understand the hostility.

"That's why the lives of our citizens in our diverse cities in our community and state can't do better," Xayprasith-Mays said. "We have certain leadership and individuals that put more value in material things, properties, than in human beings and people's lives."

Xayprasith-Mays said she is still interested in the idea of the facility, but she isn't sure what the future holds.

"It's something I need to think about," she said.

Goff said she isn't sure what the next step is, but the sheriff's office isn't going to give up on the idea.

"We are just going to keep pushing," she said. "I think people should know that just because something is not comfortable doesn't mean it can't be successful."

State Desk on 01/19/2020

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