Attorney Joey McCutchen (front) and Adam Watson, a member of the Franklin County and River Valley Coalition, leave the Arkansas Department of Corrections headquarters in North Little Rock on Jan. 7, 2025 after being escorted out of a meeting. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
Two opponents of a prison planned for Franklin County were threatened with arrest for criminal trespassing on Tuesday and escorted out of a Arkansas Department of Corrections meeting, which they said they thought was open to the public.
Standing on the sidewalk outside of the DOC’s North Little Rock headquarters while flurries fell, Joey McCutchen, legal counsel for the Franklin County and River Valley Coalition, said his experience Tuesday showed “just an absolute non-transparent environment, complete secrecy.”
McCutchen said he and Adam Watson, the coalition’s chair of legal and legislative committee, attended Tuesday’s meeting under a “valid assumption that this was an open meeting.” But when inside, they were told they would be arrested for criminal trespassing if they did not leave.
“I told them to go ahead and do that, if that’s what they wanted to do,” said McCutchen, who also described himself as a transparency advocate. “It was very clear that we weren’t welcome at this public meeting, so we’ll see where we go from here.”
Officers with North Little Rock Police Department did arrive after McCutchen and Watson were escorted outside, but no action was taken.
“Today’s meeting was an internal staff meeting for department employees,” spokesperson Rand Champion said in an email Tuesday afternoon. “Because the two individuals weren’t department employees, they were asked to leave the meeting, which they ultimately did following some conversations. There will be future meetings that will be open to the public where it will be appropriate to have them in attendance.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
The Franklin County and River Valley Coalition formed soon after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the land purchase for the planned 3,000-bed prison in October. The group has since shared concerns about the prison locally and with state lawmakers, supporting their arguments with documents they obtained through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Concerned residents take qualms with Franklin County prison to Arkansas lawmakers
An email in response to one of the coalition’s recent public record requests tipped off members to two “kick-off” meetings this week with state correction officials and staff from Vanir Construction Management, a California company that was approved for a $16.5 million contract to oversee the planning and development of Arkansas’ new prison.
According to a copy of the Dec. 6 email that Watson provided to the Advocate, meetings will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We will hold a morning session with the entire team on Tuesday,” the email from Vanir project manager Luann Salado said. “Your afternoon will be free, while Vanir will hold an internal session. Tuesday we will implement the planning exercise that requires everyone’s participation to make the time effective. That session will be most of the day.”
During their short time in the conference area on Tuesday, McCutchen said he saw as many as 50 people, including lawyers, Vanir staff and at least one Board of Corrections member, Lona McCastlain.
Watson said screens in the room listed three objectives: aligning on goals, addressing concerns and defining success.
The department spokesperson confirmed McCastlain was present, and Champion said she was the only Board of Corrections member in attendance. McCastlain was also present Tuesday in her role as chair of the state parole board, knoown as the Post-Prison Transfer Board, Champion said.
Under Arkansas law, a public meeting occurs when members of a governing body gather, even if a quorum is not present. While a specific threshold isn’t outlined in the law, it has largely been considered to be when two or more members meet. In 2023, state lawmakers failed to pass bills that would have added a numerical distinction; one proposed a quorum should be the minimum requirement, while another suggested it should be set at two or more members.
While McCutchen and Watson said they hoped to learn how the project was going to address what they say are inadequate roads, an iffy water supply, sewage issues, the workforce in Franklin County and environmental concerns, the pair left with no new information.
“Citizens aren’t welcome,” McCutchen said of Tuesday’s meeting. “We don’t live in that type of state. We live in a state where, if you’re going to discuss goals of this project, they should do them openly with the citizens invited. It’s contradictory to everything this state stands for.”
A lack of transparency has been a prominent critique about the prison announcement and now its planning. The day after Sanders announced the nearly $3 million purchase for 815 acres in Franklin County, area state lawmakers went on a local radio station and discussed how they were “kept in the dark right up ‘til the last minute.”
Tuesday’s meeting started at 8:30 a.m., and McCutchen said he left Fort Smith at 4:30 a.m. to be there on time. Watson said he traveled to Little Rock Monday evening, footing the cost of gas and a $120 hotel room to be present.
“For me, it’s not the cost of me having to forgo meetings in my law firm today. It’s the cost of freedom,” McCutchen said. “Because what we just saw here is a cost to our freedom. If we can’t go into a room that’s filled with a bunch of bureaucrats and government people, then what can we do?”
McCutchen also said that if the most restrictive changes to the state Freedom of Information Act had been enacted during a 2023 special legislative session, the coalition would have had no way to know about the meetings this week.
The Advocate was also asked to leave corrections department headquarters while Tuesday’s meeting was in progress, though it was being conducted in a closed conference area. A security officer told the Advocate photos inside the building were prohibited.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.