A jail review committee is threatening to close the 24-year-old Crawford County lockup if county officials don’t come up with a plan within six months to address its deficiencies.
In a July 17 letter to County Judge John Hall, Danny Hickman, coordinator of the state Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committees, wrote that the county had been placed on probation three times since 2004. He added that several letters had been written concerning the jail’s deficiencies and that members of the 21st Judicial District Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee believe that little has been done to correct the problems.
The 21st Judicial District comprises Crawford County.
The committee put the county on six months’ probation during which it is to draw up a plan to fix the jail problems, Hickman wrote.
“If the county fails to prepare such a plan, the committee will ask the sheriff and the county judge to voluntarily close the jail or the committee will turn inspection over to the Attorney General’s office for the possible filing of a lawsuit in Crawford County Circuit Court to close the jail,” the letter stated
Hickman said Tuesday that he wrote the letter for Allen Wolfe, chairman of the 21st Judicial District committee, whose members inspected the jail on July 11.
The letter sets out deficiencies that the committee found during that inspection: Chronic overcrowding, insufficient staffing, insufficient space to separate inmates, safety problems, and inadequate cell design, space and medical area.
The Crawford County Quorum Court’s Jail Committee Chairman Lloyd Cole said Tuesday that he has called a meeting of the committee for Thursday evening to review the report. However, he said, he would not ask the committee to make a decision about the jail at that meeting.He said he plans to take the report to the full Quorum Courtat its Aug. 19 meeting.
Hall said he is in charge of the county’s buildings, including the jail, and Sheriff Ron Brown is in charge of operating the jail. He said both are limited in what they can do about the jail because the Quorum Court decides how the county’s money is spent.
Brown didn’t return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Cole said the county has needed a new jail for a long time, but there is little support on the Quorum Court and among county residents for spending millions of dollars to build one. Brown told the Quorum Court last year that a 300-bed jail in a new location would cost about $24 million to build.
Some Quorum Court members have said it is less expensive to pay Washington County to hold Crawford County prisoners than to build a new jail.
On July 11, the day of the inspection, according to the report, the jail had 82 inmates. Its capacity is 88. The jail was holding seven prisoners who had been convicted in circuit court and were bound for prison or a regional lockup. Another 22, waiting to go to prison or regional lockups, were free on bond.
Nine were free on electronic monitoring, according to the report.
A total of 24 Crawford County prisoners were being held in the Washington County jail. Crawford County pays Washington County about $30 a day to detain each prisoner.
Cole said Crawford County residents are overburdened with taxes, and he listed several recent increases..
In December, the Quorum Court passed a 1-mill property tax increase to generate more revenue for the county budget.
Van Buren residents approved a 1 percent sales tax in July 2012 to raise money for various improvements.
A half-percent state sales tax for highway improvements that voters approved last November went into effect on July 1.
Also, later this year or early next year, Crawford County officials plan to ask residents to renew a county sales tax.
“It’s a burden to the citizens to ask for a sales tax,” he said.
Cole also said the county has no excess money to spend on a new jail, noting that already county departments have had to cut their budgets by 10 percent to align expenses with the available revenue.
Hickman’s letter summarized the deficiencies noted in the jail report. He said Tuesday that the jail is too small for a county that has a population of 62,000 and for the amount of crime a county that size has.
On overcrowding, the letter stated that inmates were sleeping on the floor, which was unsanitary and violated state jail standards. And the cells were too small for the number of occupants, violating square-footage requirements for inmates.
“Jail inspections performed over the past four years have repeatedly identified overcrowding as a problem,” Hickman said in the letter.
The jail has insufficient staffing to properly conduct administrative and operational functions, and to provide adequate security for staff members and inmates, the letter stated. The jail has 12 full-time male jailers, 10 full time female jailers and eight supervisors.
The staffing shortage has led to delays in training in the basic jail course, in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and in first aid, the letter stated.
The jail is too small to separate inmates by class as required by the state jail standards. The letter stated that people arrested for felonies must be separated from those charged with misdemeanors, pretrial cases from post-trial ones, women from men, and youths from adults.
The report stated that women and men were separated and that the jail did not hold youthful offenders.
The jail reportedly has insufficient space for operational functions. The jail’s activity room serves as the medical area. The kitchen is too small and food is stored in multiple areas, the report stated.
There is a lack of storage for clothing, bedding, security, equipment and toxic cleaning supplies, all of which are out in the open, creating congestion, the report said. Extra mattresses are stored in the jail’s controlled entryway, it said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/31/2013