Former Arkansas Corrections Board chair, current member allowed to intervene in lawsuit

A current and former member of the Arkansas Board of Corrections were granted permission by a Pulaski County judge Wednesday to intervene in a longrunning lawsuit over the panel’s power to fire top prison officials.

Benny Magness, the board’s former chair, and Lee Watson asked Judge Patricia James to allow them to intervene in the case after the Arkansas attorney general’s office and the board asked her to vacate an injunction she placed last October blocking two state laws.

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“While we are disappointed by the court’s order allowing intervention by the unnecessary parties, we remain confident that the final outcome in court will reflect the current reality: the parties agree on the law and have reached a settlement,” Jeff LeMaster, a spokesperson for Attorney General Tim Griffin, wrote in a text message.

The board filed the lawsuit against Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2024, when Magness was chairman. It challenged two 2023 laws that shifted from the prison board to the governor the power to fire the corrections department secretary and the leaders of the corrections and community corrections divisions. 

James ruled in October the moves violated Amendment 33 of the Arkansas Constitution, which protects the independence of the prison board. Sanders appealed the ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Magness left the board in December 2025. Since then, Sanders appointed several new members, who now make up a majority of the seven-member board. The Sanders-appointed majority voted 4-3 to settle the lawsuit earlier this year, before the justices ruled on Sanders’ appeal. 

The Supreme Court then ordered James “to consider” lifting the injunction she placed on the laws, but rejected a request from Magness and Watson request to intervene. Watson, who voted against settling the lawsuit, and Magness asked to intervene before the lower court following the high court’s decision.

Griffin’s office, which is representing Sanders, and the corrections board urged James not to allow it. Griffin’s office cited the Supreme Court’s siding with his office in a related Freedom of Information Act case in arguing against allowing Watson and Magness to intervene. 

But James criticized the state’s arguments as “a bit disingenuous” and rejected them.

James wrote Wednesday that she should hear arguments from Watson and Magness, who have staked out positions opposed to Sanders’ and the current corrections board’s, so that she could make an “informed decision” about whether to lift her injunction.

Lee Watson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.