Prisoners who inflict life-threatening or disfiguring injuries on their guards could face up to 40 years or life in prison under legislation endorsed by a Senate committee on Wednesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved by voice vote legislation making first-degree battery on a correctional officer a Class Y felony, the most serious level of offense in Arkansas not punishable by death. The same sentence enhancement exists for first-degree battery on a law enforcement officer.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
The legislation approved by the committee, Senate Bill 109, is sponsored by state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View.
Solomon Graves, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, said state prisons referred 50 incidents of assaults on staff to the Arkansas State Police in 2017, three of which resulted in additional time added to inmates' sentences. One conviction was for first-degree battery, Graves said.
In 2018, Graves said, 88 incidents were referred to state police, none of which so far have resulted in additional time.
-- John Moritz