LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Since Governor Asa Hutchinson was elected, he has spent $50 million on expanding our prison system, adding more than 600 beds.
He's looking to do it again, saying that the county jails are backed up and Arkansas is increasing in population.
"Projections show that population of prison inmates will continue to increase in the next 10 years," said Gov. Hutchinson.
In 2018, the Department of Corrections had 16,094 inmates in Arkansas. According to the state, that number will continue to grow by thousands. By 2031, it's estimated we will have more than 19,000 inmates.
Governor Hutchinson said the system is already overloaded. Within the past two years, we've had up to 2,000 prison inmates staying in county jails.
"This number is too high and it does not give our local court system enough flexibility to arrest people on misdemeanor offenses and to have adequate space in our county jails for other purposes," said Gov. Hutchinson.
So here's the proposal: The governor hopes lawmakers will approve the expansion of the North Central Unit in Calico Rock. The project will cost between $60 to $100 million and add almost 500 more inmate beds.
Right now, architectural plans are being made to show how best to expand the North Central prison. The Department of Corrections hopes to get that finalized this spring.
The goal is to start construction in the first half of 2023.
But even if we get more beds, we still have a crime problem to solve.
"You know we incarcerate people, but we don't rehabilitate them," said Edmond Davis, Derek Olivier Research Institute Director.
With the increase in inmates, Davis said Arkansas could work to lower the rate of re-offending by launching new programs focusing on the the group most at-risk to offend: young adults without high school education or employment.
"We know that 75%+ of people incarcerated are high school dropouts. So, we have to have educators involved," said Davis.