Arkansas Department of Corrections Secretary Lindsay Wallace said Friday the agency is looking into addressing a backlog in jails caused by placement of state inmates in county facilities by making use of "nontraditional beds" in such places as those used for work release programs.
Wallace also said she has considered the possibility of using out-of-state beds to address the backlog.
The secretary brought up the option while providing an update on bed space and backlogs in Arkansas' county jails to the Board of Corrections during a regular meeting in North Little Rock.
"We've kind of tapped out what we've got on the inside of our prison systems," Wallace said.
Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness asked Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne for his opinion on the matter.
"I think that's a great idea," Payne replied
As of Friday, there were 18,893 inmates within the Department of Corrections, an increase of 152 from the previous reporting period of March 24, 2023, according to Payne. The number of inmates housed in county jail backup was 2,096. That figure includes 1,898 males and 198 females.
Payne said the Division of Correction may have to modify some of its policies if such a plan to use nontraditional beds is adopted, such as its policies related to the Act 309 program. The Act 309 program places state inmates in county jails and provides help to county sheriffs. There are about 400 inmates in the program, Payne said.
Housing inmates in transitional houses or re-entry programs also would be less expensive than housing prisoners within the Division of Correction, Payne said.
"I think those are viable options we should definitely look at," Payne said.
Wallace said after Friday's meeting that the nontraditional beds would be geared toward "the folks that have an opportunity to do something that's not just being housed in a facility." Such beds are located in such locations as transitional living or re-entry centers, as well as state community correction centers.
The latter centers are in Little Rock, Osceola, West Memphis, Texarkana and Northwest Arkansas, according to Wallace.
Wallace said she was brought into conversations regarding the strategy Thursday. A section of the Protect Act requires the state Sentencing Commission to examine the use of nontraditional beds to ensure they are being used in the best manner.
The secretary told the board she thought the agency may be better able to tell "in the next couple of months" about whether the strategy is one the state should pursue.
Moving certain inmates to beds outside of Arkansas has "been on the table since day one," although keeping inmates in state is generally the priority, according to Wallace.
"We've hit a fever pitch," Wallace said. "We know that we need some capacity somewhere, so we're working on it."
During the meeting, Board of Corrections members also voted to keep Magness in place as the body's chairman, and for the two other existing officers to maintain their roles. Tyrone Broomfield will remain the board's vice chairman, and William "Dubs" Byers will continue to serve as its secretary.
Friday's meeting comes a day after the Joint Budget Committee authorized the Bureau of Legislative Research to draft legislation to appropriate $4.2 million to the Corrections Department to reimburse county jails for holding state inmates, and to fund the action using state general revenue.
Overcrowding in state- and county-level correctional facilities -- and attempts to address the issue -- prompted a feud that began late last year and resulted in the firing of then-Secretary of Corrections Joe Profiri.
In November, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called a news conference seeking to pressure Board of Corrections members into supporting her request to add 622 beds at several state facilities.
"We have the space. We have the resources. We have the personnel. All that stands between us and a safer, stronger Arkansas is bureaucratic red tape," Sanders said during her news conference. "It's time for the Board of Corrections to do what is needed to protect our people."
The board agreed to add 60 temporary beds at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern, as well as 70 beds at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, but it initially rejected her request for a combined 492 beds at the the Maximum Security Unit in Jefferson County, the McPherson Unit in Newport and the Barbara Ester Unit in Pine Bluff.
At the time, the board said renovations were needed at two of the facilities. Members also expressed concerns that some of the prisons were already overcrowded and understaffed, and that the expansions wouldn't serve county jails' long-term needs.
"The safety of the people of Arkansas is our No. 1 priority," Magness said during a Dec. 8 board meeting. "Second is the safety of staff, and third is the safety of inmates. The public isn't as conscious of those last two, but we need to be."
The board later agreed to additional beds at the Ester Unit but balked at adding 368 beds at the McPherson and Maximum Security units in Newport and Jefferson County.
A spokeswoman for Sanders' office said Dec. 8 that Profiri would move forward with the full plan anyway under orders from the governor.
Two lawsuits followed. One, filed Dec. 14 by the Board of Corrections against Sanders and Profiri, alleged that Sanders and Profiri used a pair of Arkansas laws to skirt the board's authority in an attempt to expand the number of beds at state prisons. Another, filed Dec. 15 by the attorney general against the board, claimed the board violated the state's open meetings and records law when it hired attorney Abtin Mehdizadegan during a closed session and that the body failed to properly respond to a Freedom of Information Act request from the attorney general's office.
One appeal is related to a Jan. 19 ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James that, in part, levied a preliminary injunction against two laws that the board's suit contends violate the state constitution. Sanders is among defendants in that case.
The other concerns a Jan. 22 order from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox's dismissal of Attorney General Tim Griffin's suit against the board.
Griffin has appealed rulings in the lawsuits to the Arkansas Supreme Court.