There's little legislative support for building a new 1,000-bed prison if it takes higher fees or taxes to pay for it, Sen. Eddie Joe Williams told the state's interim head of prisons Monday.
The Cabot Republican, who chairs his chamber's State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, made the comment during a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees.
Once pitched as a $100 million project, the proposed 1,000-bed prison is now being proposed to cost $231 million as a 30-year financing project paid for in part by an increase in license plate registration stickers.
"Not a one of [surveyed committee members] would support an increase in a car tax, not one of them, until we try all alternatives on the table to see if we can manage this prison population better," Williams said. "In the past, government created a crisis and went to the people and asked for a tax increase, and that's how they got them. I hope those days are over."
The interim head of the state Department of Correction, Larry Norris, said that he is open to working with legislators, state parole officials and other groups to come up with solutions in the coming months to bring down the prison and jail population backlog.
But a prison, he said, is key.
"A new prison is just a small piece [of the puzzle], but in my view, it's a necessary piece at some point in time," he said. "I'm up for anything that will help us out. ... We have to look at every option. ... It's not a matter of [who's right] because we're all wrong."
Faced with crowding and a combination of an increase in new commitments and record numbers of parolees being revoked back to prison because of more stringent policies enacted last year, prison officials in July pitched to lawmakers the building of a new facility that could cost up to $100 million.
On Monday, prison officials offered a bond proposal, one that would be financed over 30 years and cost $231 million in principal and interest financing by using a "wrap around" with a current bond issue in place since 2009 that is used for regular maintenance of air and heating systems at prison facilities.
Williams and others were skeptical about the proposal and concerned that state correction officials might return a few years down the road asking for more money to be able to pay for necessary improvements at the facilities. Williams described it as "smoke and mirrors" financing.
"I'm concerned about using that wrap-around money," Williams said. "It's kind of a shell game. And I don't play those games."
At present, state prisons are over their 14,319-person capacity with 15,286 prisoners. There are another 2,473 inmates backlogged at county jails, which, Williams said, is costing county sheriffs across the state about $80,000 a day.
In the report submitted to legislators at Monday's meeting, Richard Wilson, assistant director of the Bureau of Legislative Research, highlighted alternatives to bringing down the state's prison numbers.
Expanding access to the state's 43 drug courts, which cost about $7 million annually, would lessen the number of drug offenses resulting in convictions in criminal courts. Doubling the access would cost $14.1 million, according to the report, and up to $20.4 million if attorneys and judges involved are to be compensated for courts that they presently volunteer in.
The report also highlighted alternatives to new prisons that could bring down costs to the state.
One, which Williams supports, is contracting with a private corrections company based out of Louisiana, LaSalle Corrections, which operates nearly 20 facilities in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia.
Williams said that the inmates housed there go through work training and life skills development, and many leave the program and re-enter society with money in a checking account or a job.
The cost to the state, Williams said, would be about $27.50 a day, compared with about $63 a day if they were being held at a state institution.
When asked if it was sound policy to outsource state prisons' care and supervision to a for-profit company, Williams said the interests of state prisons and LaSalle are the same.
"Tell me what their concern is. State's still paying for it. What's the difference between hiring a guard and hiring someone to run it. You're still hiring a facility; you get certain standards and certain criteria they have to meet," he said. "Both of them will be [working] for the public good. We're housing 2,300 people in county jails with no end in sight. ... I think it's our responsibility to look at all the avenues."
The report also highlighted the use of old schools and other facilities to expand transitional housing programs for inmates that would cost far less.
Another alternative program, one spearheaded by the state Department of Community Correction, aims to take prisoners as much as a year away from their parole eligibility date and put them in transitional work centers where they would learn new skills and readjust to an environment not structured within prison walls.
That program, which as proposed would fund 300 beds in its first year followed by 500 beds in the second year, would cost the state $3.35 million and then $5.6 million, or roughly $30.62 a day per prisoner.
State prisons and parole spokesman Dina Tyler suggested that the state re-examine its probation system in order to encourage judges and prosecutors to keep low-level, low-risk offenders from clogging up prisons.
Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson agreed with the need for local courts to use more probation services but pointed out that probation is toothless unless convicts know that there is a prison bed waiting for them.
"Part of it [is] we need to have a real stick. ... We can't do it unless we have bed space. I certainly don't want to raise any additional revenues, but I think the public is demanding we fix this," the Little Rock Republican said. "Is the 1,000-bed prison the best way to do it? I have my doubts."
With a number of options, Williams said it's on lawmakers now to draft legislation that could be enacted during the legislative session that starts in January.
Metro on 11/25/2014