County hires firms to study lockup, courts
Boosting safety, efficiency goals of $185,175 review
Two out-of-state companies are scrutinizing Pulaski County’s adult justice system at a macro and micro level to recommend changes this year.
A crime reduction research organization, the JFA Institute, and a subcontractor, the Justice Management Institute, were awarded the $185,175, six-month contract.
JFA has staff members in Denver, Malibu, Calif., and Washington, D.C., according to its website. The management institute is located in Arlington, Va.
County Judge Barry Hyde has spurred several initiatives that involve local courts and the 1,210-bed county jail, including the new study.
His office established a criminal justice coordinating committee so local decision-makers, such as Pulaski County Sheriff Doc Holladay, could discuss problems and solutions.
The assessment, which will run through June 30, “should provide a road map for the criminal justice coordinating committee from which it may proceed,” Cozetta Jones, a spokesman for Hyde, said in an email.
The objective, Jones said, is to bolster public safety, “simultaneously ensure the efficient use of tax dollars and improve outcomes for those involved in the criminal justice system.”
A request for bid proposals, issued by the county Sept. 29, asked applicants to answer a main question through their work: “How is the county jail being used, and what does such use tell us about the county’s criminal justice system?”
A committee selected JFA from a five-applicant pool. The firms were ranked on experience, personnel qualifications, an understanding of the scope of work and cost, with a slight advantage given to Pulaski County companies.
Two researchers, Wendy Ware and James Austin, are the key professionals for JFA.
Among the company’s qualifications are the prison population forecasts it has completed for the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
Analysts Elaine Borakove and Tim Dibble will evaluate
the courts system as part of their work for JMI.
In the submitted proposal, total expenses for the two companies were estimated at $250,000.
That price was sliced by $70,000 to the agreed upon amount, $185,175, according to a letter between Ware and Chastity Scifres, chief deputy county attorney.
About $148,450 will pay for seven personnel positions between the two companies. Emmitt Sparkman, an outside consultant who specializes in correctional systems, will be paid $20,000.
The remaining $16,725 will cover travel expenses.
Fifteen percent of the full cost — $27,776 — was paid when Hyde signed the contract in mid-December. The remaining amount will be paid as the companies complete five main tasks.
The first is to compile a trove of data to find patterns on who gets booked into the jail at 3201 W. Roosevelt Road in Little Rock.
Researchers will examine inmates’ legal statuses, mental health, education level, prior criminal record, economic statuses, bail amounts, time in custody and a slew of other factors.
A sample group of inmates will be tracked from initial booking to release. This will identify “points in the flow which may be made more efficient” so jail beds, and money, can be saved, the bid says.
That collected data will inform the second task: a 10-year projection of the jail’s population. The goal is to identify “drivers” of those expected changes.
Holladay said Friday that the jail population “is holding pretty steady.”
“We’ve been able to meet the needs of the public,” Holladay said. “I certainly don’t think there’ll be any discussion about additional construction, or anything like that in the near future.”
“I think the overall assessment goes way beyond just the needs, or perceived needs, of the jail,” he added.
If by the end of the year the projection isn’t accurate, JFA will adjust the model, the proposal says.
The third task, a “system-wide assessment,” involves interviewing all sorts of people who work within the county’s justice system.
This includes police officers, sheriff’s deputies, clerks, correctional officers, judges, prosecutors and public defenders, among others.
Departments won’t just be observed on their own, the proposal says, but also judged on how they relate to one another.
“I think the general public doesn’t understand how closely we do work together,” Holladay said of the sheriff’s office relationship with the prosecuting attorney’s office, public defender’s office and juvenile justice offices.
The assessment “is going to highlight what kind of relationship we do have, and we’ll just have to wait and see if they make any recommendations in terms of how that relationship can be enhanced,” he added.
Another goal is to identify how misdemeanor and felony cases flow through the system, from initial arrest through hearings, trial and sentencing.
Analysts will also examine the level of mental health care provided to jail inmates.
People with serious mental illnesses languish in jail longer than their counterparts, according to a body of criminal justice research.
Pulaski County is part of a statewide push to keep people who commit minor offenses while in the throes of a mental health crisis out of jail.
The county is renovating an existing building to become a crisis stabilization center, a place where police officers can take people in crisis for short term treatment.
It’s expected to open by the beginning of March, while the assessment is being conducted.
From March through May, JFA will write a summary of the findings and recommendations.
In June, researchers will present the report to the coordinating committee.
“We do not plan to list a large number of recommendations that will have minimal effect,” the proposal says.
“Rather, our philosophy is to help the county shift current priorities and resources that are not having a major impact on the jail population, criminal court processing and public safety.”
Under the terms of the contract, all documents, data and materials provided by the county and reviewed by JFA and JMI are confidential.
Jones said such a clause is typical in Pulaski County contracts, adding that the firm and the county recognize that “such reports are confidential only to the extent allowed by law.”
The assessment of the adult criminal justice system mimics a study of the juvenile justice system completed last year.
More than half of youths were sent to jail for probation violations, a percentage that’s “among the highest that we have seen in our work on juvenile justice reform,” according to the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, the group that conducted the assessment.
A juvenile specific committee will begin meeting this month to discuss ways to enact changes.
Some shifts were made immediately. A mandatory 24-hour “lockdown” period for every child was eliminated. And youths now wear uniforms, not orange jail jumpsuits.