Opening beds at the County Jail.
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As many of you may have heard
or unfortunately experienced, crime is a growing problem in Little Rock. When I served on the Pulaski County Quorum
Court, I helped put together the multi-year plan that would enable the County
to begin to re-open jail beds that had been closed due to financial mismanagement
in the county.
One of our problems then was
that the state only pays $28/day to the county for state prisoners that are
awaiting transfer to state prisons. This
creates a problem for two reasons. The
first is obvious - every state inmate takes space that can be used to lock up
criminals that are threatening our neighborhoods. The second problem is that it costs Pulaski
County an average of $52/day to house state prisoners.
So, not only does the county
suffer by not being able to lock up criminals, but the county also can't open additional
beds because it is difficult funds in the budget when the state forces the
county to accept these prisoners at that rate.
The state has two incentives to
not move prisoners. First is a lack of
space in state facilities. The other is
the financial incentive the state has for not moving prisoners. It costs the state an average of $56/day to
house an inmate in state facilities, so the $28/day they force county jails to
accept is a bargain.
In the past legislative
session I sponsored bill 1590 which would have increased the state reimbursement
rate to the county Jails from $28/day to $40/day. The Arkansas Department of Corrections habitually
leaves these prisoners in the custody of the county system for months at a time
waiting to be transported. The problem
is that they occupied badly needed jail beds that the counties need to hold
incoming prisoners. To add insult to
injury, the state forces counties to accept a daily payment rate of half of
what it costs the county to house and feed each prisoner. House bill 1590 was approved through the
house but with pressure from the Governor's office and those afraid of losing
their pet projects, the bill was stopped before it could pass the State Senate.
Since it costs the Department
of Corrections approximately $56/day this was a very good deal for the state
and they did not want to give it up. Unfortunately, this isn't a good deal for
citizens who have to deal with rising rates of crime in their communities.
At that time there was an
average of about 150 to 200 state prisoners in the Pulaski county jail awaiting
transport. Fast forward to today, you will find a new record total of over 326
state sentenced inmates being housed and fed by the Pulaski County detention
center.
It took four years for
Pulaski County to find the funds to open another 100 beds and this past spring
they finally achieved their long awaited goal, only to have to give them up to
over 100 more state prisoners that the state refuses to transport.
A call to the Department of Corrections
revealed that the state had a back log of over 1600 prisoners all across
Arkansas awaiting transport to the state penitentiaries. But had no real plan
as to what they were going to do with the backlog of prisoners. Their concern
was minimal -- and why not as they would
much rather pay the counties the bargain price of $28/day instead of the $56/day
per day it cost them to house their own prisoners. This problem goes much further than just a
financial concern as it has an effect down the line of our entire justice
system. The judges sentence the
prisoners for breaking the law but have no place to send them to serve their
sentences, as a result criminals have no fear of punishment and crime will and
has risen. Residents who are victimized
by crime are paying a direct cost and all Arkansans are facing rising insurance
rates due to the increase in crime.
House Bill 1590 did not die;
rather it was referred to review by an interim study committee meeting to be
held at the capitol Room 272 on October 19th at 1:30 PM. All who are interested in public safety and
repairing our legal system to full operation again are welcome to come and
share your opinion of keeping your loved ones and your property safe.
It is the voice of concerned
Arkansans that will need to speak loudly so pet projects don't take priority
over the basic role of government - protecting its citizens.
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I need your help in my re-election campaign.
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As many of you know, I have begun my campaign for re-election as state representative in House District 32. I need your help. If you can contribute to my campaign please click here. Any amount is appreciated. If you would like to volunteer on my campaign, please click here.
Thank you for your support as we work to make Arkansas a better place to live and raise a family.
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