Arkansas would be an even more wonderful place if it didn't need new jail or prison space.
People within our judicial systems and law enforcement agencies say the status quo isn't working. The state-run prison system is so crowded that in many counties, the people convicted of crimes and sentenced to time in prison can't be accepted by the state. That leaves them backed up in county jails, where jailers don't often have the option to just send inmates home until beds open up in the prison system.
The backlog complicates local enforcement against lesser crimes, too, by forcing overcrowded jails to let people go. That can work with some people, but others need the harsh reality of being locked up. Communities need the public safety that helps deliver.
Last week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced his plan to add 498 new beds at the Department of Corrections' unit at Calico Rock, to be paid for with a hefty budget surplus, which means no tax increase to fund the project. That's good news.
Critics reasonably suggest Arkansas can build a better criminal justice system, and they think that should require less space in prisons and jails, not more. They resist expansion because they want to keep the pressure on public officials to let people out of jail and to develop sentencing alternatives and social service programs that, for some people, could help them refrain from criminal behaviors. That might include treatments for addictions or mental health issues, life skills and job training and similar programs.
They do not acknowledge as significant that, even if the state doesn't account for a growing population, its prisons have not had adequate space for the state's prisoners for a long, long time.
Where I agree with the "reformers" is that Arkansas should not be lazy or satisfied with approaching criminal justice solely by building prison space. Where I disagree is public interests are served limiting the courts' options by limiting incarceration space and focusing only on non-incarceration options, even for nonviolent offenders.
Arkansans want to be fair but when it comes right down to it, they also want people to be punished when they violate community expectations and break the laws of the state.
That applies even to so-called nonviolent offenders. It would be considered nonviolent for someone to break into your house, rummage through all your belongings and take what they wanted. Still, ask anyone who has experienced that and they'll probably acknowledge the experience sticks with them, leaving them shaken. Their homes, where people want to feel the most secure, were invaded. The violation can leave families feeling unnerved for weeks, months or years.
Call it heartless if you want, but most people engaged in a crime like that in Arkansas are lucky to not end up on the business end of a shotgun. There are more than a few guns in the state. If a criminal ends up in jail, he at least retains the luxury of breathing.
I think Arkansans demand real jail or prison time for such offenders. Some critics want to call Arkansas backwards or unprogressive because of such notions. Well, we've heard that before, haven't we?
A solution won't be found in an "either/or" approach, but a "this and that" approach.
The alternative sentencing options ultimately only work if the people who break Arkansas' laws know the state has the capacity to sentence them to prison and back that up with the space available to hold them. If alternative sentencing, social services, job training, can convince an individual to change his ways and avoid prison time, then we're all better off. But a system that lets people go because there's no space to hold them is a recipe for encouraging people to continue breaking the law.