LITTLE ROCK (KTHV) – Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson wants to tap $32 million in reserve funds to open more prison space and hire additional parole officers in an attempt to ease the overcrowding of state inmates in county jails.
On Wednesday (Feb. 18), Hutchinson detailed his effort to to reduce the backlog of more than 2,600 state inmates in county jails throughout Arkansas. He proposed tapping money from the Insurance Department’s reserve fund and unclaimed property funds to pay for the proposal.
Hutchinson said the funds will open up to 790 new beds for inmates, including 288 beds at a county jail in Texas that Arkansas would contract with under the plan.
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