Democratic attorney general candidate Rep. Nate Steel said Tuesday that he plans to address prison overcrowding in a legislative package that he will release in the next couple of weeks.
His opponent, Republican Leslie Rutledge of Little Rock, said she supports expanding drug courts to reduce overcrowding and will help lawmakers address prison crowding if asked.
Steel, a state representative from Nashville and former deputy prosecutor, told attendees at a Little Rock Political Animals Club luncheon that it was important to propose legislation to "stop the bleeding" in the parole system and the influx of prisoners into the custody of the Department of Correction.
"The prison overcrowding issue I think is a huge [issue] -- the biggest issue facing the state going forward to the next General Assembly," Steel said.
Officials from the Department of Correction have said they will ask the Legislature during next year's session to approve financing to build a new prison, estimated to cost up to $100 million. The inmate population increased 17.7 percent between 2012 and 2013, largely because of tighter parole policies and more prison sentences for lower-level offenses, according to a review presented to the Board of Corrections in March.
The prison population Tuesday was 17,585 with 2,212 inmates held in county jails, a department spokesman said.
Rutledge said in an interview that the attorney general's job is to enforce the law and that it would be up to the governor and Legislature to propose changes to the prison system.
"As attorney general my role will be to help them craft legislation to address those issues," Rutledge said.
Steel said he would have more specifics on his proposals when he releases his legislative package, but said he wanted to focus on alternative sentencing options, including beginning a "comprehensive review" to determine where drug courts are needed and providing more services for children and for rehabilitation. He said many prisoners are high school dropouts or never held a job because of problems in their childhoods.
"We've created a prison pipeline for juveniles," Steel said.
Shea Wilson, a spokesman for the department, said in an email that between 35 percent and 40 percent of inmates enter the prison system without a GED certificate or high school diploma. Earning a GED diploma is required for inmates who do not have one, she said.
Wilson said 522 inmates passed the GED test during the last school year and 22,941 have passed since 1973 when the prison's program was established.
Steel said he also wanted to work to avoid "paroling out people we do not need to be paroling out," such as violent and sex offenders. He said he also wanted to provide services for inmates who have "severe mental health issues."
Rutledge said she supports alternative sentencing programs such as drug courts, but that parole and sentencing changes also were a job for the Legislature.
Steel told reporters after the event that in addition to his overhaul proposals, he also wanted to reduce the number of times the attorney general's office used outside lawyers to represent the state in lawsuits. He said he felt like the office had enough personnel to handle the existing workload.
Aaron Sadler, a spokesman for Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, said the office has hired outside counsel once during McDaniel's tenure. That hire was authorized by the Legislature and governor, he added.
Rutledge said she also supports reducing the use of outside lawyers if it meant saving resources.
"I hope that we have more in-house counsel handling in-depth litigation," Rutledge said.
Metro on 08/13/2014