WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Communications director for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Dina Tyler, says that more than 2,000 state prisoners are still in county jails across that state.
“The first thing we have done, which has already taken place, is adding temporary beds, both on the division of correction, and the division of community correction. In total there are 473 beds, which helps, and we've already seen it reflected in the backup, which is still way too high. But any bed we can add is going to help,” said Tyler.
In the last legislative session, Governor Sanders approved the construction of a new prison to hold 3,000 beds.
“So what we're doing right now is working with other agencies to determine the best location for that prison, or prisons. You know, it may be one 3000 bed unit, it could be two 1500s, it could be three 1000. So we're looking at where do we put it, you can't just put a prison anywhere, you have to have certain things in place,” Tyler says.
But the time frame for the new prison is still up in the air.
“Now, that's going to take some time. We don't know exactly how long, it depends on when we get to start turning shovels. But I think a good guesstimate is about three years,” said Tyler.
Washington County Sheriff Jay Cantrell said a new prison will help in the long run. But the jail itself is still facing challenges now.
“We're still going to be chronically overcrowded. The state makes up a good part of that and certainly, we understand our obligation is to hold these people, once they're convicted, we're obligated to hold them for a time until they're ready to go to prison," Cantrell explained.
County jails across the region are still facing overcrowding issues. The Washington County Jail is the third largest in the state and is designed as a temporary holding place until detainees can go to prison. But as of late, Cantrell says they have 710 beds and they've still had to hold people for up to a year.
But not every inmate at the jail has a bunk to sleep on... most inmates are sleeping on a floor mat.
"We've got 150 or so that don't have a bunk bed, or, you know, sleeping in the bay area. Wherever we can find a place to house them. About 125 of those are new commitments that have been committed through the circuit court, they're just waiting for a band to open up. If we could get rid of those 125, and a few of those other 50 or 60 that are part of the state count, we'd like to not have anybody on the floor," said Cantrell.
Officials at the Benton County Sheriff's Office say they don't expect the extra beds to impact them much. They say as of July 18, their head count was 776 and they only have 669 beds.
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