BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials have touted their proposed inmate commissary plan for the Benton County Jail as a tool to help with inmate discipline, a hope that is supported by a similar program already established in the Washington County Jail.

Benton County’s commissary program has been approved by the Quorum Court, and Sheriff Keith Ferguson said he expects the program will be in operation by the middle of May. Ferguson said the wiring and cabling work for the product-ordering kiosks and card-swipe payment machines is already being done and Keefe Foods, the company selected to provide the items for sale, will move its inventory into a room prepared for it at the jail.

Ferguson has long resisted the notion of having a commissary to provide inmates with nonessential items. He’s kept the Benton County Jail running as a “tough” jail, a bare-bones operation with inmates getting cold meals and few amenities.

“I’ve had the commissary brought up to me at every sheriff’s convention I’ve gone to over the past nine years,” Ferguson said. “People have been coming up to me, telling me how great it is, how it brings revenue into the jail and it’s also a tool to help with inmate discipline.

“I’ve put it off and put it off the for last nine years. When Captain Chris Sparks came on board as jail commander I took him with me to a sheriff’s convention and he was hit up by some vendors about a commissary. He told my he thought it would be useful back then, and I told him he could look into it.”

Ferguson said Sparks talked with a number of companies that provide commissary services to jails and prisons in Arkansas and other states. Sparks focused on a proposal from Keefe Foods as the one that offered the county the best return with the least amount of disruption.

“I listened to what he had to say,” Ferguson said. “Chris is very thorough in what he does. I think he’s got a good head on his shoulders; a good head for business and a good head on how to run the jail. He’s very attentive to detail.”

As he was examining the idea of a commissary, Sparks visited the Washington County Jail, which has had a commissary operation since the county’s new detention facility opened in 2005, according to Maj. Randall Denzer. Denzer said he would recommend a commissary program for any detention facility.

“It’s the best management tool we have,” Denzer said. “For the inmates, they know if you don’t act right, if you don’t follow the rules, you get cut off. Your commissary privileges are revoked. And it is a privilege.”

Denzer said Washington County charges inmates with commissary accounts $3 for a visit with a nurse and for over-the-counter medication. The charge is $5 for a visit with the jail doctor or if the jail has to order medication. He said inmates are making choices about going on sick call, since it now costs them, instead of doing it as a matter of breaking up their daily routine.

“We would have people who would come in here with nothing wrong with them and the next they’re going on sick call,” Denzer said. “They want to walk down the hall and look at the nurse. A lot of them decide to buy a candy bar rather than go see the doctor.”

Denzer said the jail still provides indigent inmates with medical care at no cost.

Commissary programs have operated at Arkansas prisons for many years, according to Shea Wilson, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Correction. The program provides items for inmates, and the proceeds go to a fund to pay for programs that benefit all inmates, including recreational programs.

“It’s a variety of items,” Wilson said. “We have a committee that approve the items offered. They vary from prison to prison. Some things available at minimum security prisons would not be available at a supermax facility.”

Wilson said the prison commissary adds a 40 percent to 50 percent markup over the free world cost of the items, and proceeds go to the Inmate Welfare Fund.

Sparks has drafted a preliminary list of more than 100 items that will be offered for sale in the Benton County Jail commissary. The list includes shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste and toothbrushes, soap, deodorant and skin care lotion.

Denzer said inmates in Washington County regularly buy items they are accustomed to using at home.

“They like to use the same shampoo or toothpaste,” he said.

Other items on the commissary list include pencils and erasers, writing and drawing paper, greeting cards, playing cards and reading glasses. Ferguson expects the main item of interest will be the food offered. Ferguson has said the jail will continue its policy of serving cold meals, but inmates will now be able to buy candy bars, chips and cookies, coffee and cocoa, cupcakes, honey buns and other pastries. The most popular item, Sparks said he’s been told, is a variety of Ramen noodle products. The commissary list has five varieties of noodles to begin with. Sparks said inmates can prepare the noodles using the warm water available in the cells. In other jails, he said, inmates often prefer to eat the noodles uncooked.

“They eat it like candy,” he said.