BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Benton County discussed new jail expansion plans after voters failed to approve plans to fund an expansion last year.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is asking the Quorum Court to fund the $21.2 million dollar expansion project using money the county has in the reserves as opposed to asking voters for a new tax.
Sheriff Shawn Holloway says the jail was built for an inmate population of 300 to 400 and at times they have 700 to 800 inmates. This plan would add 250 beds, which he says will fill up quickly with the backlog from the pandemic and people not coming to court.
Holloway says this is still not a sustainable solution, as there are other issues the jail also faces that affect the overcrowding at the jail. He says it is a matter of time before they address the issue again with the quorum court.
Part of the plan includes a medical pod that will be added onto the booking area that will provide five beds instead of the one they currently have. Holloway says they’ll have medical staff on site 24 hours a day. The jail is not currently holding people on misdemeanor charges, except for certain charges that require to hold them at least 24 hours.
“We're going to try to give the district judges their power back to be able to have consequences for actions in their courts on the district level for misdemeanors,” he said.
Holloway says some other things they would like to have that would help are pre-sentencing and drug court but says these programs are up to judges, not the sheriff’s office or quorum court.
Sarah Moore with the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition does not agree with expanding the jail.
“Something as easy as pretrial services for $500,000 a year can open up anywhere from 100 to 300 beds without harming community safety. If that happened on the felony-charged individuals that are in the jail today, they would have available beds for those misdemeanor-convicted individuals that they're talking about,” said Moore.
Holloway says this expansion project is very important to our community because one of the things that makes it so great is our quality of life.
“We still have low crime, but being able to address this on a misdemeanor level before the people that are in that system can advance, and now they're in here on a felony, it's very crucial to be able to curb that behavior,” said Holloway.
The Sheriff’s office expects the quorum court to vote on the project in the next month or two. If approved this year, they could break ground as soon as mid-2024.
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