Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

State's Prisons Are Overflowing

A legislative committee that monitors the operations of prisons received some discouraging news during a recent inspection of prison units  the inmate population in Arkansas is increasing at such a rapid rate that it will take an enormous amount of state revenues to build sufficient prison space.

The inmate population in Arkansas is almost 12,000. There is not enough space in state prison units to hold all of them so more than 1,000 are serving time in county jails, creating budget problems for county sheriffs.

Prison officials predict that the inmate population will continue to increase at a rapid rate. They say the state needs to build prison space for an additional 2,600 to 2,700 beds to keep pace with growth. Construction of space for minimum and medium security prison units would cost about $35,000 per bed, and about $45,000 per bed for space in a maximum security unit.

The Arkansas Department of Correction, which operates state prison units, has revised upward its projection of the inmate population for the year 2010, from about 18,000 to about 22,000.

In the past 10 years the inmate population has doubled from about 6,000. There are several factors for the growth. The public has demanded stronger law enforcement and stricter laws. One result was a law in 1995 that requires convicted criminals to serve at least 70 percent of their sentences before they are eligible for parole if they are guilty of violent crimes.

Another factor has been an increase in the manufacture and abuse of methanphetamine. A prison official said that about 2,000 inmates now in prison are drug offenders.

About half of the drug offenders would not be a threat to society if they served out their sentences in rehabilitation and work release programs, the official said.

The state has had to transfer 100 inmates to Texas to relieve overcrowding in Arkansas prisons, and another 250 are scheduled to be moved to Texas by summer. Arkansas will have to pay Texas about $5 million to house the inmates.

Legislators said that the General Assembly would have to consider a major investment in prison construction and operations during the legislative session that begins in January 2001.

Charter Schools Denied

The State Board of Education approved a new charter school in Ponca that was proposed by a cooperative of 39 school districts in north Arkansas. However, the board rejected six other charter school applications.

A charter school is exempt from many state regulations and is encouraged to be innovative and creative in teaching methods. The school signs a contract  a charter 

with the state in which it pledges to meet educational requirements, such as teaching all students basic skills. The legislature tried to promote the growth of charter schools during the 1999 regular session when it made the state's charter school laws more flexible.

The Ponca school will be an alternative, residential school for students in grades four through six. Approval of the Ponca school brings to four the total number of charter schools that have been approved for opening when the school year begins in the fall. The other three are in Little Rock, El Dorado and Rogers. They will be the first charter schools in Arkansas.

In order for the school in Ponca to open, it will have to secure funding from several sources, including the Department of Human Services and the Education Department. It needs to raise an additional $200,000.