ROGERS — Congressman-elect Steve Womack’s son received special treatment from prison authorities after pleading guilty to a drug charge, according to a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.
James Phillip Womack, 23, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, a Class A felony punishable with a prison sentence ranging from six to 30 years. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a recommendation he serve time in the state’s boot camp program.
Womack was sentenced under Act 531, which means if he successfully completes his suspended sentence, his record can be expunged. He also was ordered to pay $2,145 in court costs.
Womack was originally charged with delivery of a controlled substance, a Class Y felony, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge under an agreement attorney Shane Wilkinson reached with Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecuting attorney.
Womack spent one night in the Benton County Jail before being transported to the Department of Correction’s Tucker unit to begin serving 105 days in the boot camp program. After the Nov. 22 guilty plea, a commitment order, which details the sentence, was filed by the Benton County Circuit Clerk staff Nov. 23, the same day Womack was transported to boot camp.
“That was our decision to call for him,” said Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Correction. “This is a high-profile case, considering his father is an incoming congressman. We thought it was in the best interests of the county, the inmate and this agency to bring him on down.”
Tyler said the situation was “not unusual” but did not specify other similar situations.
AT A GLANCE
The Boot Camp Program
The Department of Correction allows selected inmates of the same sex to voluntarily participate in a 105-day program of intensive behavior modification in an arduous, physically demanding, military-like environment, otherwise known as a “boot camp.”
The Boot Camp Program is an intensified correctional program to deter repetition of criminal behavior and illegal drug use reducing the need for long-term incarceration.
Upon successful completion of the program, the inmate will finish the remainder of his sentence on probation.
Only offenders who have not been previously incarcerated for a felony in an adult facility and are serving sentences of 10 years or less for nonviolent offenses are eligible for boot camp.
Source: Arkansas Department Of Correction
A Springdale woman, Sharon Sanders, said her brother has languished in the Benton County Jail since May, awaiting entrance to the same program.
She thinks the hurry-up for Womack was unfair.
“Benton County doesn’t have the (prison system) bond program where they can stay out until they’re shipped down for the program,” Sanders said. “My relative has been sitting there in the Benton County Jail for almost eight months waiting to serve a four-month program. It’s not fair.”
Diantha Randall, also of Springdale, whose son is in the Benton County Jail awaiting boot camp, agrees with Sanders.
“I know (Womack) was supposed to be in protective custody, but what about the other people who turned someone in,” Randall said. “They have to just take their chances. Just because he’s Womack’s son should make no difference. Everyone in there is someone’s son or daughter.”
However, being a congressman’s son does make a difference, authorities said.
“We considered him high-risk because he’s a congressman’s son,” said Capt. Rob Holly, Benton County Jail commander. “When he arrived, we were going to move him to the front of the list to be moved out. However, before we could even put him on the list, the Department of Correction came up here and got him.”
Holly said 140 prisoners are being held in the jail pending transport to the Department of Correction. He said officials do not track how many are being held for boot camp.
Complicating matters at Benton County, the jailers are also trying to protect a former policeman sentenced to a month of jail time, Holly said.
Coleman Brackney, a former Bella Vista police office, pleaded guilty recently to misdemeanor negligent homicide. He was sentenced to 30 days in the Benton County Jail and a $1,000 fine in connection with the Jan. 20 shooting death of James Ahern after a car pursuit.
“Being the son of a congressman, it’s high-risk to put Womack into the general population,” Holly said. “Brackney is being housed alone in a two-man cell and (Womack) would have had to have been, too. The problem comes when you let them out.”
Holly said the jail is required to allow inmates out of their cells one-hour each day.
“This being winter, when they get out, they usually just hang around the bay area,” Holly said. “When the isolation prisoners are out, everyone else has to be in. That’s where we run into problems. All operations virtually shut down.”
Benton County officials were surprised to see the prison transport show up.
“Somebody made the call to transport him quickly, but it wasn’t us,” Holly said. “DOC never comes to transport someone. We always have to take them — except this time.”
Tyler said the decision to pick up Womack lies with the Department of Correction.
“This was our decision,” Tyler said. “To my knowledge, we didn’t receive a phone call from the family, the sheriff or anybody. We bring in boot camp inmates as soon as we can. Those beds are hard to fill. We have a waiting list of 1,931 inmates. Very few of those qualify for boot camp.”
Steve Womack, spending time this week in Washington, D.C., preparing for his freshman year in Congress, said he knew nothing of the transfer.
“That’s between my son and his attorney, I wasn’t even there,” Womack said Wednesday. “I don’t comment on the Department of Correction policy because I have nothing to do with it.”
The younger Womack’s attorney also was unaware of the situation when contacted Wednesday.
“I didn’t ask for any favors, nor did anyone else that I’m aware of,” Wilkinson said. “I called the Benton County Jail and expressed my concern for his safety. They said they’d take it into consideration. My impression is that they did.”
Tyler said she’s not exactly sure why the prison system provided Womack’s transportation.
“We may have been in the area and picked him up,” Tyler said. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all. We have a work-release program in Springdale. It’s not unusual for us to take someone early. It could be that someone is sick, high security or high profile and that puts a burden on the county. We’ve done intake on a prisoner in the hospital because the county was worried about having to pay for medical expenses.”
But Randall said she’s doesn’t buy the “high profile” explanation.
“We’ve got friends who’ve been in there since May,” Randall said. “My relative qualified for boot camp. He got the same sentence as Womack. He’s still in there. Womack’s gone. He made a mistake, but he still needs to wait like everybody else.”
Tyler defends the Department of Correction’s moves in transfer.
“We’re not going to apologize for what we did,” Tyler said. “We did the right thing.”