FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Washington County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee met Thursday, Dec. 26 while a petition circulated to stop a planned jail expansion.
The conversation about jail expansion continues in Washington County.
Voters decided against a tax increase to expand the jail in November 2022.
Then, in December 2022, the Washington County Quorum Court approved using $20 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand the jail.
The Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition recently started a petition aimed at halting that plan.
“Everyone that we have come in contact with is actually really surprised that this money is being used in this way. Many folks are telling us, 'well, we just voted that down.' So they're not even aware that the quorum court has decided to move forward, despite the voters telling them no,” said Sarah Moore.
Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins disagrees with the petition.
“The reality is we have a population who commit crimes and who need to be taken off the streets for the health, safety, and welfare of our population as a whole. To think that we don't need the facilities down there is a pretty out of left field type of mentality,” said Judge Patrick Deakins.
The coalition must collect just under 8,000 signatures and submit them to the county clerk for certification by February 21st.
If it gets enough signatures an election would be held in November allowing voters to decide if the project should continue.
Sarah Moore with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition thinks the county already over-incarcerates and if there are more jail beds, they’ll fill them.
"Then there's no need to be able to come up with solutions or ways that we actually help our community. The other thing that we all should really take a long pause on is that it seems in the final rules of the Treasury that this is an ineligible use,” said Moore.
Judge Deakins says despite the petition, the county is moving forward as if the project is greenlit and they’ll continue monitoring the referendum process.
“Right now, the situation in our jail is unsustainable, it's dangerous for both detainees and our officers. And I want those individuals to have the resources to be safe, and improve our criminal justice system overall,” said Deakins.
The county planned to start accepting bids for the jail expansion project Thursday, but because winter weather closed the courthouse on Wednesday, Dec. 25 they will be re-posting the call for bids either later this month or early next month.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.