After Dennis was charged in the death of Abrams, changes in
the parole standards began the march of revocation candidates into county jails around the state. Te “backup” [number of state prisoners awaiting transfer to state prison] was 662 when Abrams was slain on May 10, 2013, according to Capt. Clayton Edwards, White County Sheriff’s Department jail administrator and presi- dent of the Arkansas Jail Administrators Association. But the slaying of Abrams tipped the scales in the other di-
rection, Whitmore said, as state lawmakers, reacting to constitu- ents’ reasonable fears of dangerous inmates at large, began calling for various parolees to be picked up to face revocation hearings all across the state. Edwards said, about 2,900 state inmates are housed in county jails after being sentenced or revocated as of Feb. 28. As another comparison, Edwards noted that his jail, the White County Detention Center, had seven inmates on backup at the time of Abrams’ death in May, but more recently had 81 awaiting transfer to a state facility on Feb. 28. Te change in the revocation process has had a negative effect on local jails, with about 30 percent of total inmates statewide now in county jails being state prisoners waiting to go to an Arkansas Department of Correction facility. “With the average cost (in 12 county jails that represent a good
cross-section in the state) of keeping state prisoners at $53.04 per day,” Edwards said, “and the state paying counties only $28 a day, it costs counties statewide about $75,000 daily.” “Te problem is different in the four counties that don’t
have jails,” Whitmore said. “Tey don’t have state prisoners, but the state charges the county anywhere from $31 a day to $60 per day to house county prisoners.” “It should be incumbent upon the people of the counties and of the state to understand that there is a discrepancy between what it costs the sheriffs to run the jails and the amount of money that they are receiving to do so,” said Ronnie Baldwin, executive director of the Arkansas Sheriffs Association. “And part of our jobs at the Sheriff Association and at the Association of Arkansas Counties is we need to make sure that the members of the Legislature know the severity of the problem. “Tese are dire times for the counties in Arkansas. “We want to be paid what’s owed us.” Whitmore said one of the problems that affects all aspects of the criminal justice system is that when the jails become overcrowded, it affects what the judges are able to do, as far as sentencing. He and several county sheriffs in Arkansas noted that judges at times have to decide which offenders are less likely to be danger- ous if they are released back out on the street. “Our focus is on public safety,” Sharp said. “We realize that it [tougher standards after the Dennis arrest] has put a lot of pressure on county jails. … We are working very hard to get the numbers of inmates being held in county jails down to a man- ageable number, but the Department of Correction has adopted more stringent standards for inmates who commit serious crimes. If someone has committed an Act 1029 crime [violent crime or one requiring registration as a sex offender], the sheriffs have to hold them. Baldwin said he and representatives from other county groups met with Gov. Mike Beebe in December to discuss the problems. He said since that time some procedural changes had been made and that jail officials had seen some movement in resolving some of the problem. “Te governor is not unsympathetic to our problems,” Baldwin said. “He is open to any suggestions we might have in resolving the issue.” He noted that he also has had good discussions with Sharp on
COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2014
“It should be incumbent upon the people of the counties and of the state to understand that there is a discrepancy between what it costs sheriffs to run the jails and the amount of money that they are receiving to do so.”
— Ronnie Baldwin, Arkansas Sheriffs Association Executive Director
possible ways to make the best use of available beds. Among the things that sheriffs and other county officials are studying is the methods they use to determine the best use of the available beds in a particular jail. “We don’t want violent and sexual predators housed with maybe less violent or nonviolent ones. If we can hold the more violent offenders until it is time that they are sent to the state, we can hold those that. We just want to see if the Legislature can make some supplemental additions to existing appropriations,” Baldwin said, “so our sheriffs can pay for the necessary overtime and extra food and things like that caused by the overcrowding when these state prisoners are being held at the county jails.” Sheriff Ron Stovall of Miller County said in January that the situation at his 300-bed jail is not a problem of overcrowding — there were just more than 200 prisoners housed there on the day he spoke with a reporter — but the fact that 132 of that group were state inmates awaiting parole hearings or revocation hearings. He noted that his facility averaged about 30 percent of its beds being occupied by state prisoners. “With us receiving $28 a day [from the state], that’s a lose-lose situation,” Stovall said.“ “On top of the loss there, we have the additional cost of food and things like that. We actually have budgeted properly, as far as staffing goes. Food costs [of the state inmates] have the heaviest impact on us, and medical [expenses] would be second.” Stovall noted that the additional state inmates also add to the
wear and tear of the Miller County Detention Center, which is now 12 years old. And, he added, the state inmates have been kept more frequently in recent months. Yates Morgan, a psychologist who works with Stovall and his staff in dealing with prisoners at the Miller County facility, said one problem that he has seen is that state prisoners know they aren’t staying there for a long-term period, so they don’t cooperate with staff members as well as those who are placed there for the length of their sentence. “Te state inmates act out more,” he said, “they are more likely
to destroy property, and there is more disrespecting of the staff and fighting with other inmates.” Stovall said he is optimistic that a solution can be found. “My hope is that this funding issue will be addressed in the near future by the Legislature,” he said. “Te members have the statistics, shown in the survey done by the state that has the cost to us of housing a state prisoner at $56.97. We are losing money that way.” Sheriff Keith Slape of Newton County has a different perspec-
tive. He has hopes of his new 32-bed jail in the county seat of Jasper opening this spring after voters approved funds for its
“County jails slammed” Continued to Page 30 >>> 29
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