County, state face jail vote, $1 pact

Move will open facility at lockup

Some state inmates held in county jails for the crowded state prison system will begin to move this week after Pulaski County and the Department of Correction enter into a $1 contract to house them for one year in an unused satellite portion of the county jail.

The Board of Corrections must approve the lease contract during a conference call at 9 a.m. today to seal the deal, but Correction Department spokesman Shea Wilson said she believes the board will do so.

During the special legislative session held earlier this month, the board had requested the funds for operating the 250-bed satellite building, among other facilities, to alleviate county jail crowding.

After the vote, the department plans to move 50 state inmates from county jails into the satellite building today, followed by another 50 inmates Wednesday.

Under the contract, 50 percent of the state inmates moving must come from the Pulaski County jail, which is now "closed" to most nonviolent, nonfelony offenders because of a backlog of state inmates there.

Sheriff Doc Holladay said Friday that the jail was holding 416 state inmates -- more than a third of the 1,194 inmates the jail was holding Friday. Inmates ordered to prison by county circuit courts account for 239 of the inmates, and 177 inmates were sent there after having their paroles revoked.

"I do expect to see some immediate relief as they open their facility to begin operation, and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get our jail reopened," Holladay said.

The empty satellite building used as the jail's work center is part of the jail's 1,370-bed total capacity. But because of a lack of funding for all the beds available, jail officials put its official capacity at 1,210 in its 1,120-bed building off Roosevelt Road in Little Rock.

The relocation of 250 state inmates from Pulaski County and other county jails will come along slower than what the state initially hoped for, as officials originally hoped to begin housing 200 inmates today.

"We're going to do this slowly because it's a new facility," Wilson said.

The department has lined up employees and other resources for the facility already, Wilson said.

Some prison employees living in the Pulaski County area volunteered to transfer to the satellite building off West 33rd Street in Little Rock from other prison facilities in the state. Eventually, the state will hire more workers to handle the larger number of prisoners under the Correction Department's jurisdiction, Wilson said.

The $1 contract will save Pulaski County money, Comptroller Mike Hutchens explained to officials in a memo this month, because it will take away the county's obligation to maintain the satellite building.

It will also save the county on the money it loses for holding state inmates at a lower reimbursement rate than the actual cost of holding them, Hutchens wrote. The state reimburses the county $28 per day for every state inmate held in the jail, $15.52 less than the actual cost of holding them.

On July 1, the Correction Department received $6.3 million from the state Legislature to open up facilities across the state that would accommodate state prisoners and relieve county jails of some of the department's more than 2,000-person backlog.

The money is designated to open 604 beds to relieve county jails of the same number of state inmates.

Because of the backlog, the Pulaski County jail has closed twice this year, Holladay said. The number of state inmates in the jail has about doubled in the past year.

"We've gone for years being open, so it's a little uncomfortable that we've had to close twice this year because, and really all because, of the backlog of state inmates," he said.

The jail was closed for 41 days from April 29 to June 9 and has been closed for a second time since July 1.

Given that the contract with the state lasts for a year, Holladay said, it's possible the threat of closures will lift.

"We're always hopeful when we reopen that we'll be permanently open," he said.

An open jail would take people charged with misdemeanors, as well. Even before the closures, district judges have complained that misdemeanor offenders were not held in the jail long enough to appear in court or serve their sentences.

Holladay said the contract could extend past a year if the county and cities did not want to use the satellite building for any other purposes.

"In my opinion, if the state wants to continue to operate it beyond that, I support that," Holladay said.

Metro on 07/21/2014

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