Sheriffs from across Arkansas told legislators Tuesday that overcrowding in county jails because of state prisoners has reached a crisis point, as violence and gangs are starting to become commonplace in their facilities.
Sa l i n e Co u n ty S h e r - iff Rodney Wright, White County Sheriff Phillip Miller, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder and Mark Whit-more, chief legal counsel for the Association of Arkansas Counties, appeared before the Senate Committee on Judiciary to discuss issues on the jail population increase.
No official decisions were made during the meeting.
Helder said he has been in law enforcement for 43 years and that he believes the crowding in county jails is as bad as he has ever seen.
“There have been spikes throughout the years that were quickly resolved, but this has been sustained the longest I can remember,” he said.
Helder said the Washington County jail by some standards would have a maximum capacity of 580 inmates, but it had 815 on Monday. He said 124 inmates were positive for covid-19.
Helder said more than 25% of the detainees are state prisoners.
“I simply do not have the space to house other people’s prisoners,” he said.
Whitmore told the committee that the last time the state built a new prison was in 2003 when Mike Huckabee was governor.
“We had plans and intentions to build another prison back in 2013, but as you know it takes a supermajority to pass a joint budget, and that failed,” he said. “Y’all have had a need literally since before 2013 to build another maximum security prison in Arkansas. And yes, we have done things like drug court, and yes, we have passed Act 570 and we passed [Act] 423 for mental health. But when we are talking about violent crime and the growth of violent crime, it takes these maximum prison beds.” Whitmore said that in comparison, from 2015 to 2021, county jails have added 2,154 beds. He said eight counties were able to add 433 beds to existing jails and that 13 counties were able to add 1,721 beds by opening new jails.
“It’s not because they want to add on for more misdemeanors; it’s because they literally have hundreds of state prisoners that should just be there for 30 days or 60 days until the paperwork is done and they go upstream either to Corrections to serve their sentence or they go to Community Corrections to receive their treatment and programs. Well, both are not happening,” Whitmore said.
Wright said his jail’s population is 234, with 25% being state inmates.
Miller said 36% of his 268-inmate population is made up of state inmates.
“In 2006, we built a new jail, and we thought we would never fill that jail,” he said. “In 2016, we had to add additional space to this jail. Today, due to the number of state inmates and covid restrictions, I have to evaluate who we can and cannot hold in our jail.”
OVERCROWDING CONCERNS
Helder said that during then-Gov. Mike Beebe’s administration, which lasted from 2007 until 2015, overcrowding was discussed, and prison changes and Act 570 were enacted.
Act 570 was intended to reduce the state’s prison population growth rate, change the parole and probation processes and reduce sentences for drug crimes and thefts.
Helder said this law led to a large release of prisoners from state facilities, but those beds were filled again during the first year or so of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s term, around 2015, after a released prisoner killed a university student.
Act 423 was enacted in 2017 and was aimed at sending those low-level probation violators, as well as delinquent parolees, to short-term lockups at county jails or to treatment programs rather than to longer-term, crowded prisons.
Helder said one of the good ideas that came out of the discussions of Act 423 was a 90-day program for minor violations.
“We were all in support of that because at the other end of that the state was supposed to build regional holding facilities for the 90-day violators,” he said. “But guess what, there were never any regional facilities built, and county jails became those regional facilities.” Whitmore said the parolees who are supposed to be receiving their treatment and programming are instead sitting in county jails.
Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, told the committee that when he visits some of the state prisons, he has spoken to several people who are locked up for nonviolent offenses, while dangerous felons are being held in jails.
He asked the sheriffs why there couldn’t be an exchange done where the county took the nonviolent offenders and the Department of Corrections received violent offenders.
Miller said it would be up to legislators to address the issue.
Helder said one of the big misses of Act 570 was the unfulfilled promise of increased funding for parole divisions.
“They never funded the increase in parole officers to oversee the people you are talking about who need oversight,” he said.
“We are supposed to be like a bus stop; you’re supposed to take felons, and we hold misdemeanors,” Whit-more said. “Right now a lot of county jails have quit holding misdemeanors for years now because we are full.”
SAFETY ISSUE
Helder said overcrowding leads to violence against employees and regular jail inmates.
Whitmore agreed.
“What happens is when you get people who are violent criminals and they aren’t going upstream like they are supposed to, they are down in general population in the jail right next to people who have DWIs and other minor crimes, and it’s causing public safety issues for our jailers and detainees,” he said.
“Take a snapshot of our detention center from 10 to 15 years ago. It looks completely different,” Helder said. “It almost looks like now a south borough of Los Angeles where we don’t have the personnel to keep up on a daily basis like we used to. We got graffiti starting to spread on the walls. We’re starting to deal with gang situations that we never dealt with prior to this, and it’s only going to get worse.” Wright said 18-year-old employees work in this atmosphere because the jail had to lower the age requirement just to find people willing to work there.
“I have 45 employees in my jail. I am down 15, and I am working the heck out of the other ones,” he said. “You have a shortage of manpower, and you have these type of people in your jail that you are having to deal with. It doesn’t take a lot to lure them to Amazon or anywhere else.” Sen. Trent Garner, R- El Dorado, asked if looking to the private sector to run regional facilities like a proposed concept in southeast Arkansas might be a solution.
In 2019, the Legislative Council signed off on the state’s $8.1 million-a-year contract to house inmates with Bradley and Drew counties’ future regional jail. The intergovernmental agreement is projected to cost the state more than $163 million over its 20-year span.
In November 2019, officials in Drew and Bradley counties signed the deal with Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections that calls for the company to build the jail and run it.
The jail has missed its originally scheduled opening of Jan. 1.
Whitmore told Garner that a facility like that will only house a certain type of inmate, but the need is for maximum-security beds.
Whitmore said the prison system routinely is releasing violent criminals back on the streets because of this issue.
“Much before their sentence is served and for a fraction of what their sentence is served,” he said. “If they have a 12-year sentence, they might serve 2½ years.”
EMPLOYEE PAY
The sheriffs said the reimbursement rate for state prisoners isn’t worth the cost to hold them.
They said counties are reimbursed $32 per state prisoner per day, but their research shows it costs more than $60 to house these inmates.
Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, asked if sheriffs really wanted to get rid of state inmates, since they were getting the reimbursement.
“Is this a real complaint, or do we want state prisoners?” he asked the sheriffs.
Helder said that 15 years ago, he probably needed the state reimbursement to offset the costs of the jail. But he said the payment isn’t worth the problem.
“It has become a safety issue, and it has become a civil-rights issue,” he said. “When you have people sleeping on top of each other, it’s not right. I can only speak for myself. There might be some sheriffs who want to keep it, but not me.”
“What happens is when you get people who are violent criminals and they aren’t going upstream like they are supposed to, they are down in general population in the jail right next to people who have DWIs and other minor crimes, and it’s causing public safety issues for our jailers and detainees.”
— Mark Whitmore, chief legal counsel for the Association of Arkansas Counties