FAYETTEVILLE -- After voters rejected a $100 million jail expansion plan in this month's election, Washington County officials are again eyeing a smaller plan they say gives them room to better handle a pandemic.
"My intention is to bring it up this year," Justice of the Peace Lance Johnson said of the plan Tuesday. "We'll probably have a Jails Committee meeting on Dec. 5, and if it passes, I'd like to get it to the Quorum Court at its meeting in December."
Johnson said he thinks the current justices of the peace are familiar with the proposal and should make a decision rather than leaving it for the Quorum Court next year, when six new justices of the peace will begin working.
"I think it ought to be decided by this court," Johnson said. "We've been kicking it around for a long time."
Not everyone shares Johnson's view the plan should be voted on by the current Quorum Court. Justice of the Peace Eva Madison is one of the six justices of the peace who'll leave office at the end of 2022.
"No. I don't think it's something I should vote on at my last meeting. That's silly," Madison said.
The county still has alternatives to building more jail space, detailed in a report from the National Center for State Courts and being fleshed out by the county's Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, Madison said. That process needs to be pursued, she said.
"I think the voters clearly said, 'We do not want a sales tax increase, and we do not want a bigger jail,'" Madison said of the Nov. 8 election results.
The county authorized design work on the $20 million covid-related project beginning in 2021 but put the idea on the back burner while pursuing a much larger plan to add jail space and space to the juvenile justice system. Those projects would have been paid for by a bond issue with the bonds paid by a temporary 0.25% sales tax increase.
Nearly 59% of voters rejected the jail plan, while 54% said no to the juvenile justice system proposal on Nov. 8, according to official results.
REVISITING THE $20 MILLION PLAN
The Quorum Court in August 2021 approved $250,000 from the county's American Rescue Plan money for preliminary architectural and engineering work on an expansion meant to enhance the facility's ability to handle detainees during the covid-19 pandemic.
At that time, according to the Sheriff's Office, there were 11 separate 24-person blocks being used to manage detainees in different stages of quarantine. The justices of the peace in May authorized another $1 million to complete the architectural and engineering work.
The expansion plan would add about 230 beds to the jail in medium-security additions, according to information presented to justices of the peace. There wouldn't be a full jail pod built in this proposal.
The largest single part of the plan is a 130-bed addition for women, adding 14,000 to 15,000 square feet at a cost of about $5 million to $6 million. Another large expansion would add 100 beds for men in about 12,000 square feet for $4 million to $5 million.
Expanding the jail intake area would cost another $2.5 million to $3 million and expanding the medical space at the jail would cost $750,000 to $1 million.
The other parts of the expansion include space for jail administration, the courtroom at the jail and storage.
The current estimated cost of the project, including a 10% "covid contingency," is $19.8 million, according to information from the Sheriff's Office. That includes $1.5 million already spent on design work. The covid contingency portion of the estimated cost would be for addressing any covid-related cost issues, such as supply chain problems or an outbreak of covid in the jail.
Justices of the peace have discussed using the county's American Rescue Plan money to pay for the expansion, but no decision has been made. Treasurer Bobby Hill said the county has obligated about $32.4 million of the county's $46.4 million in rescue plan money, including $10 million transferred into a "Revenue Replacement Fund" as authorized by the federal government. That $10 million can be used for any legal county government purposes, Hill said.
In February, Jim Langford with Spirit Architecture told the Quorum Court's Jail/Law Enforcement and Courts Committee if the county began "moving forward expeditiously," the project could be completed in early 2025.
Jay Cantrell is chief deputy with the Sheriff's Office and will take over as sheriff in January. The work could still be done by mid-2025 if the Quorum Court approves the project in December, he said.
"We've got all the design and engineering work done," Cantrell said. "We're ready to go out for bids if we can get it approved."
COVID STILL A PROBLEM
Cantrell said the covid pandemic had and is still having a large impact on the jail. Data show 2,075 detainees have tested positive for covid since the pandemic began in March 2020, with 272 detainees testing positive so far in 2022, he said.
Cantrell said the need to isolate or quarantine detainees complicates an already difficult housing problem at the jail. The jail opened in 2005 and has a design capacity of 710 beds, with the legal requirements to separate different classifications of detainees reducing the operational capacity to around 580. On Nov. 21, there were 801 detainees in the jail, with 168 of those sleeping on mats on the floor because there were no beds available, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The jail typically houses detainees in large blocks of 20, 30 or 40-plus detainees. The need to separate detainees who have tested positive for covid or who have been exposed to covid means some areas are under-used while others are crowded. Just a few weeks ago, one detainee tested positive and exposed 14 others to the virus, Cantrell said. That meant the jail had to use a 32-bed cell block to house those 14 detainees.
The proposed expansion would provide a number of smaller units with eight, 10 or 12 beds each, he said.
Sarah Moore is with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition. The group argued against the larger jail expansion while it was being planned, campaigned against it during the election period and opposes the smaller plan being considered.
"The community just resoundingly said they don't want more jail beds," Moore said.
Moore said the study done by the National Center for State Courts has a number of specific recommendations county officials need to consider before spending money to build a bigger jail, then spending still more to operate it. The study recommended alternatives including improved pretrial services; consideration of lowering the bond amounts set by the court; alternative courts, such as a mental health court, to divert people from the criminal justice system; and services to help people avoid missing court dates and being subject to arrest for failure to appear.
"We would urge the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee to bring forward a pretrial program that would truly meet our needs. It's beyond disappointing," Moore said of the continued emphasis on building more jail space.
In Benton County, officials have no specific plans following the failure of that county's jail expansion proposal in the Nov. 8 election. County Judge Barry Moehring said officials discussed, but shelved, ideas that would have been similar to the Washington County covid-related project in favor of the larger plan.
"We're in a regrouping phase right now," Moehring said.
Sgt. Alexis Bartholomew watches a bank of monitors Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville. The Sheriff’s Office wants the Quorum Court to approve a 232-bed expansion plan it says will ease the strain on the facility from covid-19 and any future pandemic illnesses. Go to nwaonline.com/221127Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
Detainees sleep on the floor and on beds Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville. The Sheriff’s Office wants the Quorum Court to approve a 232-bed expansion plan it says will ease the strain on the facility from covid-19 and any future pandemic illnesses. Go to nwaonline.com/221127Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
Detainees sleep on the floor Wednesday at the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville. The Sheriff’s Office wants the Quorum Court to approve a 232-bed expansion plan it says will ease the strain on the facility from covid-19 and any future pandemic illnesses. Go to nwaonline.com/221127Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)