Panel lends support for sobering center

Facility would divert inebriated people from jail, Sebastian County officials say

Sebastian County Circuit Judge Steve Tabor speaks Tuesday during the Sebastian County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting in Fort Smith.
Sebastian County Circuit Judge Steve Tabor speaks Tuesday during the Sebastian County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting in Fort Smith.

FORT SMITH -- Sebastian County officials voiced support Tuesday for a possible means to divert intoxicated people from the county jail when they are encountered by law enforcement personnel.

The Sebastian County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee approved a motion to support legislation during the 2021 legislative session that would make a sobering center a reality within the county.

David Hudson, county judge of Sebastian County, said the facility would serve as a place where law enforcement officers could take intoxicated individuals to sober up instead of taking them to the Sebastian County jail. He said the facility would provide a safe alternative and possibly help connect people to ongoing treatment options.

The committee discussed a variety of topics associated with an ongoing assessment of the county's criminal justice system and jail needs. The county agreed in February to enter into a study with a team composed of architecture firm TreanorHL, Studio 6 Architects and criminal justice planning consultants Mark Goldman and Associates to carry it out.

When Mark Goldman asked if a sobering center would help reduce crowding in the jail, Sebastian County District Judge Jim O'Hern said he believed it would, but added there is a question of whether the county has the authority under state law to divert a person to a sobering center.

Hudson, the county judge, said state Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, introduced a bill during the 2019 legislative session that would have permitted an officer to transport an intoxicated person to a sobering center. Hudson said the bill lacked guidelines regarding how the facility would operate, and the bill was eventually pulled.

"On the agenda would be to fill in the operating details in appropriate fashion for a bill and have it reintroduced and passed in 2021," Hudson said. "So, unfortunately, we would have to continue to function the way we are until 2021 to implement the facility."

Chris Joannides, executive director of the Riverview Hope Campus in Fort Smith, is an advocate for a sobering center. Joannides said he believes having such a facility that is properly staffed would give the community a better opportunity to meet people who are "transitioning in and out of the jails," with treatment options available.

Joannides said he and Rusti Holwick, chief executive officer of the Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center in Fort Smith, had traveled to San Antonio to see how a sobering center there was operated.

Joannides said Hope Campus has space available for a sobering center.

"I talked to my board," Joannides said. "They're on board, so to speak. Actually, we're looking at doing an expansion here in the next three or four months, and included in that we've got a little section carved out that would work as a sobering center."

State Desk on 10/16/2019

Upcoming Events