State officials will request authorization to begin site selection process for construction of new prison

1,000-bed facility needs board OK

Solomon Graves (left), secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and state Rep. Jim Wooten, R-Beebe, are shown in these 2022 file photos. (Left, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe; right, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)
Solomon Graves (left), secretary of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and state Rep. Jim Wooten, R-Beebe, are shown in these 2022 file photos. (Left, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe; right, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Staci Vandagriff)

Arkansas Department of Corrections Secretary Solomon Graves told legislators during a committee meeting Thursday that officials will ask the Board of Corrections to authorize the department to begin the site selection process for construction of a new prison facility.

"Next Thursday I will be taking a request to the Board of Corrections to authorize us to begin site selection for an additional 1,000-bed facility so we can have a project that we can begin discussing with the next Legislature and the next administration," Graves told members of the Arkansas Legislative Council Joint Budget Committee.

Graves said the department is doing everything it can to address prison overcrowding.

Earlier this month, spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said maximum capacity is 14,652 and the Division of Correction was housing 15,338 inmates. Murphy said there are 1,986 state prisoners who are being housed in county jail facilities, including 1,279 Division of Correction inmates, 518 offenders who have had their parole revoked for 90 days for violating terms of their parole, 107 awaiting space at community corrections centers and 82 waiting for supervision sanction program space.

A document obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette shows the Department of Corrections will seek approval of the Board of Corrections to solicit expressions of interest from communities related to the donation of land.

"The land would be used for construction of a maximum-security facility housing approximately 1,000 inmates within the Division of Correction," the document states.

The document states the desired location would be 100 acres, not prone to flooding, in close proximity to a hospital and adequate utilities, not within 60 miles of an existing correctional facility and located in a sufficient population center for staff recruitment and retention.

"This facility will have a significant benefit to the local economy," Graves said in the document. "The annual operation budget will be at least $2,000,000. The facility is projected to employ 370 individuals and have annual payroll of approximately $21,000,000."

Graves told committee members Thursday that funding for the project would be up to the governor and the General Assembly.

Arkansas last built a prison in 2003.

Jail expansion has come up repeatedly over the past year, with several legislators calling on the General Assembly to use some of its recent $1.6 billion surplus to build another facility.

A group of sheriffs from around the state told lawmakers during a legislative session in March that overcrowding had reached a crisis point within their jails. They cited the rising number of state prisoners being housed in county facilities, which has led to a rise violence and gangs becoming commonplace within those facilities. The group also spoke about the need for higher reimbursement rates for county jails that hold state prisoners.

Shealyn Sowers, a spokesperson for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said Thursday that the term-limited Republican governor is aware of the proposed project and has been in continuous conversations with the Department of Corrections.

Citing a 10-year projection of inmate population growth, Hutchinson said earlier this year that he wanted to use surplus general revenue to expand the North Central Unit in Calico Rock by about 498 beds. Hutchinson said the proposed prison expansion wasn't a shift in criminal justice policy, but a way to address Arkansas' growing prison population.

The General Assembly approved a Division of Correction appropriation for the 2023 fiscal year that included $75 million in spending authority for expansion of the North Central Unit.

Graves said a request for a quote is out for a design professional for the North Central Unit project. Murphy said estimated completion date for phase 1 of the expansion is sometime in 2025.

The department is also opening a seventh community correction center next year in Batesville to reduce county jail backup. It will hold approximately 700 offenders annually who would have been housed in county jails for 90-day terms. Estimated cost is $9 million. Murphy said $4.3 million will be spent in the current fiscal year of 2023, with the balance being spent in fiscal 2024.

Republican candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Democrat Chris Jones and Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington are vying to succeed Hutchinson as governor in the Nov. 8 general election.

"Sarah's plan for a safer, stronger Arkansas calls for the state to devote the necessary resources to increase prison capacity, allowing for the retention of violent, repeat offenders and reduce the worsening backlog in our county jails," Sanders campaign spokesman Judd Deere told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday. "Arkansans know we have a crime problem, and Sarah will work with the Legislature next year to enact her bold plan to protect our communities."

Spokesman Clint Schaff said Jones was at an event in Fayetteville on Thursday and unavailable to comment. Jones has said previously that the state has a prison capacity problem.

"We need to ensure that prisoners are housed appropriately for our community safety, their safety and that of ADC officers, but that is not the only problem," Jones said earlier this month. "We must simultaneously address the disease, not just the symptoms."

Harrington said in a statement Thursday that "My hope is that those beds would be used for programs aimed at reducing recidivism."

Attorney general candidates Tim Griffin and Jesse Gibson have said they support expanding prisons along with ensuring treatment programs are working to prevent recidivism.

"It's been approximately two decades since Arkansas added any prison capacity, and the construction of a new prison is a long-overdue and much-needed measure to relieve prison overcrowding and reduce stress on our county jails," Griffin, the Republican lieutenant governor, told the newspaper in a statement. "Adding a new prison is the first step toward ending our revolving-door system of justice, and is a prerequisite to the next important step, which is fixing Arkansas's broken parole system."

"I am glad the state has begun its due diligence in this process," Gibson, a Democrat, said in a statement. "However, I still see this as a short-term fix. Hopefully our elected officials will exercise the same due diligence in developing programs that truly reduce our recidivism rate."

Graves' disclosure Thursday that he would request authorization to begin the site selection process came after Rep. Jim Wooten, R-Beebe, said the reimbursement rate for counties housing overflow state prisoners is too low and questioned what the Department of Corrections was doing to address the issue.

"It costs White County $300,000 to take care of the state's problems, so we got to do something," Wooten said.

Graves said the reimbursement rate is usually handled at the administrative level and is not a process the Department of Corrections handles, noting that "we only act as the dispenser."

Wooten said he would encourage the Department of Corrections to play a bigger role than simply disbursement. He said it costs the state about $68 a day to house a state inmate, but that county jails receive only around $40 per day for housing state inmates.

"I don't care if it's the governor's office or who it is, but somebody has got to step up," Wooten said. "These counties are spending money out of their own treasury funds."

Graves told legislators that long term the biggest benefit the state can give counties isn't solely through reimbursement rate increases.

"That does not fix the problem," Graves said. "The biggest benefit that we can give the counties is to ensure at a state level we have adequate capacity."


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