Prison opponents voice concerns as Arkansas officials proceed with 3,000-bed project

Sen. Bryan King and a group of Northwest Arkansas residents who oppose the state’s plan to build a 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County asked the Board of Corrections Wednesday to pause site developments.

But before the lawmaker and prison site opponents spoke, the board voted to seek an architectural firm to design the proposed penitentiary.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the purchase of the prison site near Charleston in October, and a local group formed quickly in opposition. Members of the Franklin County and River Valley Coalition recently shared their concerns at a legislative committee, were kicked out of the Department of Corrections headquarters and held a press conference urging lawmakers to identify alternatives. Members were again present at Wednesday’s prison board meeting.

Among King’s concerns were an unknown price for building the prison and the secretive nature in which the prison site was selected and announced.

“As people that decide about educating kids and paying for everything, we should know [the prison price] today,” King, a Green Forest Republican said. “We should have known this before the property was purchased. When you have gross negligence and gross incompetence — I think it’s time to put a pause on this.”

King pitched his alternative plan to correction officials, which includes reallocating the $470 million set aside for the prison and investing in county-level facility renovations, construction and partnerships. Because a high percentage of inmates come from specific counties, King recommended investing the money in those areas to address the “three-headed monster” that he said is high crime, high incarceration rates and crowding in county jails.

Corrections staff reported Wednesday that 1,626 state inmates were currently being held in county jails.

Marilyn Moore, a Franklin County resident, told the board Wednesday that the coalition learned through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act that the prisons board was not heavily involved in the site selection process.

Rather than the process being led by corrections officials, Moore said leaders with the Arkansas Division of Building Authority championed its selection under the influence of the governor and former department secretary Joe Profiri, whom Sanders hired as a special adviser after the Board of Corrections fired him.

“What we have come to realize is the Board of Corrections has been under an immense amount of political pressure,” Moore said. “As a common citizen, I can only imagine what that pressure is. However, as a board, you have the constitutional duty … You have made unilateral decisions that will negatively impact the Department of Corrections and the state of Arkansas.”

More said public records showed officials were aware of 815-acre site’s shortcomings during the selection process and proceeded anyway. She said the new prison would be a strain on the area’s existing electric and water resources. 

Citing communication from state officials, Moore said the available workforce in the area is poor and the road access makes the site “not viable.”

Board members did not ask any questions of the presenters, but Chairman Benny Magness referenced the prison in Calico Rock as a similar site and urged coalition members to visit.

RFQ approval

The prison oversight board approved a request for qualification (RFQ) that invites architectural firms to submit proposals for carrying out the design work on the new prison.

Magness said he thought the RFQ’s timeline was too long. If the board doesn’t vote on an architect until May, as outlined in the document, he said, “we’re not going to turn dirt this year.”

Corrections department staff assured Magness that the timeline could be condensed and that the stated dates are considered maximums. The contract is set for four years, with the option to renew annually for up to seven consecutive years, or until the project is completed.

According to the document, the programming and design phase is estimated to begin in June.

The RFQ draft states that the design professional would conduct a phasing schedule for the 3,000-bed facility, plan infrastructure such as a wastewater treatment facility, wells and emergency power generation. A site study should include a model to determine road parking, buildings, perimeter security and patrol roads, according to the RFQ.

Among other features, the facility should also include dining halls, indoor- and outdoor-recreation areas, medical and infirmary locations, intake processing, visitation, a vehicular sally port and laundry, according to the document.

Though state officials have referred to the prison as having 3,000 beds once built, board member Lona McCastlain recommended adding language to the RFQ that would instead say “up to 3,000.”

In addition to the RFQ, members approved tentative members for an “evaluation committee” to select the optimal bidder.

The committee is expected to include one board member; Thomas Burns, the board’s attorney; Richard Cooper, assistant director of construction and maintenance; and William Straughn, deputy director of institutions. The committee will also include designees from the department secretary, the director of the Division of Correction and the governor’s office.

‘Women’s health unit’

The prisons board also approved a 99-year lease agreement with the Department of Human Services for $1 annually to operate what Corrections Secretary Lindsay Wallace called a “women’s health unit” in Little Rock. In a separate vote, members approved $2 million to invest in renovations to the building, most of which would fund a new HVAC system.

Under the Protect Act of 2023, corrections officials must allow 72-hour bonding periods for incarcerated mothers and their babies. 

Seven incarcerated women are currently pregnant, Wallace said.

Renovations could start in March, upon lease approval, Wallace said. By August, inmates could be housed in the 50 proposed beds, with pregnant women in one wing and elderly and women with health issues in the other, she said.

“This will satisfy our requirements of the Protect Act, but it’s also going to offer an opportunity for us to do some partnering with the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health to provide some basic services, to teach moms how to care for their kids, to teach them about bonding, maintaining healthy bodies during pregnancy and after pregnancy,” Wallace said.

The site is located at 4800 W. 7th St. near the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Central Arkansas Community Corrections Center.

Other business

The Board of Corrections also took up several other items of business during its all-day regular monthly meeting, including approving the purchase of a laundry washing machine, eight night vision binocular sets and one narcotic analyzer.

Members shared concerns about the delayed progress on a Phillips County Jail agreement that would supply the state with 80 additional beds.

Dexter Payne, director of the Division of Correction, said inmates could likely move in within the next week or two, but staff is having trouble finalizing a food source. While the plan was to partner with a hospital across the street, the prices were too high, he said.

Outwardly frustrated about the delay, McCastlain recommended using a nearby McDonald’s, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the inmates or parking a food truck nearby.

Also concerned, board member Brandon Tollett asked Payne for a “hard date on when we’ll have bodies in beds.”

Payne said he could not provide a hard deadline because of the dietary and nutritional restrictions on providing food.

Chad Brown, the department’s chief financial officer, told the board it was “death by option,” and he was currently in conversation with a local grocery store owner. Brown said the goal was to feed each inmate for $5 per day.