Sat. Nov 9th, 2024

A Black man, an older white man and a white woman sit at a table listening to someone outside of the picture.

From left, Arkansas Division of Corrections Director Dexter Payne, Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness and Corrections Secretary Lindsay Wallace listen Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, to questions about the state’s purchase of land near Charleston, Arkansas for a new prison. (Photo by Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)

The Arkansas Board of Corrections on Friday accepted land in rural west Arkansas as the site of a planned prison of up to 3,000 beds.

During a roughly 30-minute video conference call meeting, the board voted 5-0 with one abstention to approve the prison site purchase, which the state bought with no involvement from board members. Several members have said they learned of the 815-acre land deal only a day or two before the governor’s office announced it on Oct. 31.

Board member Lee Watson, who abstained from Friday’s vote and lives in western Arkansas said “there’s a need for a facility” because there are no state prisons in that part of the state. He noted that roughly 32% of Department of Corrections inmates come from west and northwest Arkansas counties. 

“At the same time the board should make well-reasoned decisions,” he said. “I learned about the Franklin County site the day before” it was announced. “Given the magnitude of the decision, I don’t feel I’ve had enough information or time.”

Watson said he was surprised to learn at a Thursday night town hall in Charleston that the land had been under a purchase contract for 90 days before the deal closed last month. Area residents and state and local officials who said they were blindsided by the governor’s announcement last week attended the town hall seeking answers.

Board member Lona McCastlain, who made the motion to approve the land deal, acknowledged that the board had been kept in the dark about it, but said she feels the governor “has committed to keeping us informed” going forward. She noted that board members had received a site survey document from the governor’s office last night and said, “I feel it’s a feasible site.”

“We’ve heard repeatedly from county sheriffs and judges about the problems with the backups,” she said.

Corrections officials and former Gov. Asa Hutchinson for years have said a new prison is needed to alleviate overcrowding in county jails. The state spends roughly $30 million a year to house about 3,000 inmates in county facilities because of a lack of space in state prisons, according to the governor’s office. 

“More recently,” McCastlain said, “we’ve heard from legislators that we need to move forward with this prison build. … The Board of Corrections has the opportunity to alleviate the burden.”

William ‘Dubs’ Byers, who seconded McCastlain’s motion, said, “I didn’t like the way this was done. …There should have been more discussion with the representatives and senators from that area.”

He noted that he received a letter Friday morning from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders encouraging the board to approve the land deal. He then asked Cortney Kennedy, the governor’s chief legal counsel, if the governor’s office will help the board deal with infrastructure and other issues that might arise as the prison is designed and built. The board voted last month to hire a construction manager for the project.

“We are committed to making this project happen for the benefit of the community and state,” Kennedy responded.

She said the administration has had the Department of Transportation look at the property to determine what’s needed in the way of infrastructure. The site survey document board members received Friday also notes the Department of Health was consulted regarding the adequacy of water lines and service.

Addressing the concerns of Franklin County residents over safety and the prison’s effects on their communities, Byers said he lives five miles from 3,000 inmates in the state’s two largest prisons in southeast Arkansas.

“Having the prisons five miles from my house, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages,” he said. “Our community has not been changed because of the prisons. Our county has the second lowest incarceration rate in the state; it hasn’t added to crime in the area. I hope in time that the people in Franklin County can look back and say it’s benefited their community.”

Magness noted that Friday’s vote starts a long process of studies on the suitability of the site before construction can even begin.

“There’s a slim possibility it won’t work. But we’re at the point where we have to move forward,” he said.

After the vote, Sanders issued a statement thanking Magness and the board “for their vote for a safer, stronger Arkansas.”

“We kicked this can down the road for far too long — it’s time to make the first investment in our prison system in two decades,” the statement said.  “I am committed to working with community members throughout the prison construction process as we invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Franklin County and create hundreds of recession-proof, good-paying jobs.”

The board also hired Rand Champion as its new public information officer, a post that has been vacant several months. Champion most recently worked as regional communications manager for the American Red Cross, according to his LinkedIn profile.

This story was updated at 12:40 p.m. Friday to include a statement from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

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