Solomon Graves was the youngest state prison director in the nation when he was appointed to the position in July 2020 by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. He was only 37. Now he is dealing with a capital city plagued with shootings and a recidivism rate that is sky high.
Graves, whose official title is secretary of the Department of Corrections, is determined to lower the system's recidivism rate -- now at 47% -- to a more positive number and get ex-cons back on their feet in sustainable, working situations.
But Graves is hesitant to talk about anything personal. This interview starts with banter about his 5-year-old son, who he says loves to read and will start kindergarten in the fall. He did mention the name of his son but his spokeswoman later sent an email asking that his name not be mentioned for security reasons. Graves also mentioned he is recently divorced but did not elaborate.
Graves does not like to talk about his upbringing. He says he was born in North Little Rock and he and his mother "bounced around until I was 7 when we moved back to Arkansas."
They moved to Little Rock when Graves was in the second grade and lived in the Highland Park housing project until he was in seventh grade. The family then moved to the Amelia Ives housing project on Roosevelt Road, where he remained until his junior year in college.
Highland Park was torn down in 1996 and Amelia Ives was demolished in 2007.
At this point in the interview, Graves says he didn't want to talk anymore about his upbringing or his family.
"My staff will tell you the thing that I hate worst in life is this," Graves says of this interview and other interviews like it.
When asked if he was shy, Graves says "No. I am very opinionated. There are a lot of words people use to describe me. Shy ain't one of them."
His staff confirms this.
"He's very much opposed to blowing his own horn," says Lindsay Wallace, Graves' chief of staff.
They met when Wallace was the attorney for the Arkansas Sentencing Commission and he was at the Parole Board. When he first asked her to take on the role, she hesitated, explaining she was comfortable where she was working and didn't know if she could handle the job.
"What Solomon is really good at is building folks up and he's really, really good at seeing the positive attributes that you don't even see yourself. ... He is such a good people reader and I think that has to just come from where he grew up and all of his different experiences that took him to where he is today," Wallace says.
Wallace also says he is an amazing public speaker.
"He draws you in. ... And he does everything off the cuff which makes me furious because if I have to speak to somebody, I've got to sit down and I've got to study about it. But he just jots notes down about five minutes beforehand."
Graves also has the ability to quote from Scripture without notes. "He just has this uncanny ability to speak to a room," Wallace says.
BIG FOOTBALL FAN
Later in this interview, he did give a few clues about his nonwork life. He says he is a huge football fan who loves the Razorbacks and the Dallas Cowboys. He recently got into collecting record albums and says one of his favorites is Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life." And he has a religious side.
"Obviously my name is very Biblical," he says. "My mom prayed for some type of sign as to what my name should be. She always told me that she was told in a dream that I would be wise beyond my years -- hence the name Solomon."
Graves says he went through an agnostic phase during most of his college years before returning to his faith when he finished obtaining his degree. He is a member of Longley Baptist Church in Little Rock.
"I was definitely more spiritual than religious at a point in my life but my faith is my bedrock," he says.
While he won't talk much more about his personal life, it is clear he is passionate for his work.
Graves graduated from McClellan High School and obtained a criminal justice degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a master's degree in public education from Webster University.
He lives in a house on the grounds in the department's Pine Bluff unit, as do other department leaders and command staff.
"I've been around prisons in some shape, form or fashion for the past 16-17 years," Graves says of living on the grounds. "It is part of the job. I am on call 24-7-365."
FUTURE LEADER
Marq Golden, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences director of external and governmental relations, was an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity alumni adviser at UALR and met Graves when he joined the fraternity. Golden says he knew back then that Graves would become a "future leader."
Golden describes Graves as "highly intelligent. He's a listener. He's strategic and is definitely caring and loyal."
"A lot of times you see people who are appointed to these positions because of their relationships in government but he is actually one of the few people who you can find who was actually groomed to be in that position. And at every step, he has done extremely well," Golden says.
In 2007, Graves went to work for the state Parole Board where he worked for almost a decade -- spending his last five years as its administrator. In 2016, he became the public information officer and legislative liaison for what is now known as the Division of Correction.
In 2019, Gov. Asa Hutchinson reorganized state government and the prison director -- Wendy Kelley -- was named secretary of the Department of Corrections and Graves was named her chief of staff.
Kelley retired in summer 2020 and Hutchinson nominated Graves secretary of corrections and the Board of Corrections approved the appointment that July.
Before she left, Kelley asked Graves if he would be interested in the position, adding that she had already recommended him to the governor and the corrections board.
"It was flattering but to be honest, it was nothing that I was interested in or sought out," he says.
He says he told Kelley he would be willing to serve on an interim basis to give the governor and board time to find a permanent replacement. But Hutchinson and the board thought otherwise, deciding Graves was the best person for the job.
"Solomon is stepping up during a difficult time in Arkansas, but with fourteen years of experience in adult corrections, he is well prepared for the task," Hutchinson said in a news release announcing his appointment. "In my time as governor, I have benefited from Solomon's breadth of knowledge of the prison system and his wise counsel."
HARDEST DECISION
The first decision he made as secretary -- which he says has been his hardest decision to date -- was locking down the prison system.
The prison system had in place plans to deal with a pandemic caused by diseases like influenza, chicken pox or scabies but covid-19 was a whole different monster.
"We knew how to handle it when an inmate tested positive for tuberculosis. That's what we knew. That's what we were familiar with. That's what we were all trying to model covid response to fit. But it didn't fit.
"Every facet of society had to shift, had to morph, had to adapt to deal with the early onset of the covid pandemic and we made choices. Some things worked. Some things didn't. We would reset, re-evaluate and try again."
Graves tested positive once for covid-19 in October 2020 but did not have symptoms. He says his staff was glad when he was able to return to work in person because during quarantine, he was working 12-14 hours each day. They knew of his long hours because of his frequent late-night work texts.
The prison system lost seven employees who died of covid-19. Fifty two inmates also died -- the last one in January 2021. At one point, the system was dealing with almost 11,000 active cases of covid-19. About 80% of those cases were asymptomatic.
During that time, no new prisoners were brought into the system. "We completely locked the system down," he says.
Before the prison system went into lockdown, Graves says employees were reacting to outbreaks of the corona virus. He shut it down to "mitigate and prevent" the spread of the disease.
The prison system -- from inmates to employees working within prison walls -- was tested for covid-19. He says while the actions he took may have been inconvenient, "they were designed to save lives. ... We were going to do our damnedest to save lives."
Graves was dealing with 26 correctional facilities across the state. Some of those facilities, he says, were the equivalent of a small city. He had to figure out meals, programs, treatment plans and more.
"We didn't get the luxury of stopping. There was no suspension of prisons. We didn't throw the doors open and tell everybody to go home and come back once this virus is over. We had to keep working. We had to keep the lights on every day.
"Covid has provided the opportunities for our staff to do what they do every day, which is to excel, and we've done that. I'm proud every day to serve in this department. Not because of any accolade that is afforded to me. But because I know I have over 4,000 men and women who are working in challenging environments and excelling in it, whether they are a correctional officer or a parole officer, whether they are working in food service or they are working in treatment, whether they are working for administrative support. They are grinding every day and they are providing some function that is changing lives."
'OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE'
Graves says what pushes him is a moral obligation to provide inmates with "opportunities for change."
Graves says many of the offenders he sees never "had to get up and do a positive, legal job."
For those people, he is trying to instill good work habits so they can have a chance when they return to society.
"I love my job. I get up every day proud of what I do and proud of where I work but there are some days I get up and I am tired. I would like nothing more than to sit in my recliner and watch Netflix all day. ... At some point in our lives, it was instilled in us a dignity in work and getting up and doing what you don't want to do is part of life.
"But that same understanding was not instilled in everyone ... so it is incumbent upon us to provide opportunities for change through programming and treatment."
Upon taking office, Graves says one of the first actions he took was investing in what he calls "quality improvement and program evaluation" designed to help ex-cons successfully re-enter society.
A major problem that weighs on Graves' mind is recidivism. "My staff will tell you we do not need to generate returning customers. That is not our role." In terms of measuring recidivism rates, the industry standard is examining a three-year period. In Arkansas, the recidivism rate this year is 47% -- meaning of prisoners released in 2017, almost half of them had returned to prison by 2020, he says.
"I think I was quoted in a legislative hearing where recidivism came up and talked about our recidivism rate being unacceptably high. And that wasn't hyperbole on my part. That is what I truly believe. Because when we talk about recidivism, we are not just talking about a number. We are talking about disrupting communities through continued criminal activity.
"I was born in this state and I have lived in this state 31 of my 38 years on Earth. I've got a son who lives here. I live here. I am planning on staying here long after this season of life is completed, so I want a safe Arkansas."
Graves says about 85% of the Department of Corrections' population will be released to society. He says many of them have been "well skilled" and have the potential to be productive members of society.
"We don't throw people away in this state. One thing I love about Arkansas is this heart of service and this heart of compassion."
Graves serves as corrections secretary at the pleasure of both the governor as a member of his cabinet and the state Board of Corrections. As Hutchinson's final term is ending this year, does Graves worry about his own future?
"Just like every cabinet member in this administration, I will submit my resignation and it will be up to the board and the incoming administration as to the direction they want the department to go in terms of leadership. ... This is not Solomon Graves' job. This department belongs to the people and when my tenure is done, someone else will take up this mantle of service."
SELF PORTRAIT
Solomon Graves
• DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: May 24, 1983, Little Rock
• WHEN I HAVE FREE TIME, I ENJOY: Grilling and working on my truck.
• I AM CURRENTLY WATCHING: "The Lincoln Lawyer" and the new season of "The Boys."
• MY FAVORITE SONG IS: "Unanswered Prayers" by Garth Brooks.
• THE BEST ADVICE I'VE EVER RECEIVED WAS: Be you. Everyone else is taken.
• THE ONE THING I WOULD TELL MY YOUNGER SELF IS: It gets better.
• MY FAVORITE SCRIPTURE IS: Ecclesiastes 3:1: "To every thing there is a season and a time for every purpose under the Heaven."
• I WOULD LOVE TO TRAVEL TO: Africa
• THE ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE ME: Focused
“We didn’t get the luxury of stopping. There was no suspension of prisons. We didn’t throw the doors open and tell everybody to go home and come back once this virus is over. We had to keep working. We had to keep the lights on every day.” -Solomon Graves (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)