FAYETTEVILLE -- Sheriff Tim Helder says Washington County needs more jail space and he wants the Quorum Court to ask voters to approve a jail expansion project in the November general election.
"I will be asking the Quorum Court to push a Detention Center expansion initiative out to the voters," Helder said in an email Thursday. "This will include covid mitigation and a major jail expansion. The overcrowding issue has been at the forefront of our county's needs for over eight years now, and the Springdale Police Department closing their jail in 2020 just exacerbated the situation. Our only relief came due to covid-19 when we worked with the prosecuting attorney and the courts to release elderly and non-violent, at-risk detainees. Sadly, a large percentage of those released have failed to appear and are now back in jail."
Helder, who plans to retire as sheriff at the end of this year, said he can't leave office without trying to resolve the jail crowding problem.
"I can't go out, in good conscience, without trying to get something done," Helder said. "My goal is to get the Quorum Court to approve putting this on the ballot and let the citizens of Washington County decide."
Helder said his concept is larger than the covid-related expansion the Quorum Court has discussed for several months.
The current proposal, prompted by the covid-19 pandemic, would add 232 beds and space for quarantining and isolating detainees for health reasons; for the intake, medical and courts areas; and storage and administrative purposes. That proposed expansion would cost about $20 million, if approved by the Quorum Court, and take two to three years to complete.
The sheriff's office proposed expanding the jail in 2018, citing crowding as a continuing problem. The jail has a design capacity of 710 beds but is generally considered to be at capacity when about 80% of the beds are occupied due to legal requirements for separating detainee classifications. The jail population on Thursday was 702, Helder said, having dropped after the state Department of Correction last week took 20 prisoners the county had been holding for the state. Helder said there were 112 detainees sleeping on the floor Thursday for lack of bed space.
Helder said the county has been releasing without bond about 300 people a month who would have been detained if there had been jail space. In April, he said, the jail released 461 people.
The 2018 proposed expansion to add 600 to 700 beds would have been paid for by a sales tax increase, which voters would have to approve. The original sales tax increase proposed was 0.5%, which would continue in effect until the jail addition was built. After construction, the sales tax would have been cut in half, with a 0.25% sales tax remaining to offset the cost of maintaining and operating the jail.
Helder said Thursday the new expansion plan would add another housing pod to the jail in addition to the covid-related work. He said the sheriff's office has talked with representatives from Spirit Architecture and has been told a "ballpark" cost estimate is $50 million to $60 million. He said the funding mechanism of a sales tax to pay for construction would be essentially the same as the 2018 proposal, including a continuing sales tax for operating and maintenance costs.
To get a proposal on the November ballot, the Quorum Court would have to approve the measure and have it filed with the county clerk's office by Aug. 30, according to Jennifer Price, executive director for the Election Commission.
Benton County officials are considering a $241 million jail and courts expansion that may be placed on the November ballot in that county.
Justice of the Peace Lance Johnson, representing District 1 in Springdale, and chairman of the Quorum Court's Jails/Law Enforcement/Courts Committee, said he favors Helder's proposal and will have it as a discussion item when the committee meets June 6.
Johnson voted against the 2018 jail expansion proposal. He said the last four years on the Quorum Court have changed his views.
"I think we've run out of options," Johnson said. "Four years ago, I was not in favor of it but what I've seen has changed my mind. The situation at the jail with the overcrowding is not good. The situation with all of the folks we're turning away from the jail every month is not good either."
Justice of the Peace Eva Madison from District 9 in Fayetteville is a member of the Jails/Law Enforcement/Courts Committee. Madison said she has questions about the lack of details on the proposal and is concerned about the timing of the possible election.
"I think that's a massive expansion," Madison said of the project. "I also have a little trouble with an outgoing sheriff and a mostly lame-duck Quorum Court asking for this. The people who are going to have to deal with the consequences aren't going to have any say in the decision."
Madison also said she isn't confident about asking voters to approve a sales tax in the current economic situation. She said her constituents have already expressed opposition to a jail expansion.
"Who's going to campaign for this sales tax increase during a time when gas is $5 a gallon and there's a major war going on?" Madison asked. "I'm not sure this is a good look for Washington County."
Butch Pond is justice of the peace for District 15, which includes Elkins and rural areas of eastern Washington County. Pond said rural residents will likely favor the proposal.
"People who have been living out here have had to deal with the crime issue," Pond said. "They don't like their farm equipment being stolen or vandalized. They want to be able to feel safe in their homes or to feel safe about leaving their homes."
Beth Coger is justice of the peace-elect for District 9. She has lobbied for Washington County to consider alternatives to building more jail space. Coger said the county has a report from the National Center for State Courts that includes many possible alternatives to incarceration, from changes in bail requirements to expanding and adding pre-trial services to helping detainees avoid re-offending and programs such as electronic monitoring and a mental health court. Coger said the county has done nothing to implement those recommendations.
"We've done nothing that makes any difference and there are so many things we could be doing," Coger said. "I don't think the people of Washington County want to go into debt for something like this when we haven't given the alternatives a chance."
Patrick Deakins, justice of the peace for District 5 in northeast Washington County and a candidate for county judge, is chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee. Deakins said he thinks the county should move forward with Helder's proposal. The county has considered the alternatives and he finds the jail expansion to be the best choice, he said.
"I think we've put in a lot of very diligent work and we might have exhausted those alternatives," Deakins said. "I can't say I disagree with Sheriff Helder when he says a jail expansion is necessary."
Sarah Moore, with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition, said she's sad and disappointed the county is ignoring its own study, which produced recommendations other than adding to the jail.
"We've had these options on the table for two years and we've yet to see any of them put into effect," Moore said.
Moore also said she questions the timing of the plan. She said new leaders at the county level should have a chance to weigh in.
"We're at the tail end of the current sheriff's term," Moore said. "He's leaving office and a lot of seats on the Quorum Court may be changing. There's a lot of energy around the community for doing things differently but that's being shoved to the side for the same old tired trends."
Evelyn Rios Stafford is justice of the peace for District 12 in Fayetteville. She also said the county needs to consider alternatives to incarceration and building more jail space as recommended in the National Center for State Courts study, but if new jail space is needed, Benton and Washington counties should look at the possibility of a regional jail, as the study also recommended.
"The two counties don't appear to have been talking to each other," Stafford said. "If both Benton and Washington counties are looking at jail expansion we need to at least be looking at the idea of a regional jail."