Phillips County begins building new jail

HELENA-WEST HELENA (AP) — A county in eastern Arkansas has begun construction on a new 100-bed jail about five years after the county jail shuttered due to deficient locks, overflowing drains and other unsafe conditions.

Phillips County officials broke ground on the new facility last week and aim to have it completed within a couple of years, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The county is repurposing a facility on land that will also house a sheriff's office, courtroom and morgue. Since the closure of the county jail in 2013, Phillips County officials have been forced to transfer inmates to other Arkansas jails or release them. Officials estimated in 2015 that the county spend $750,000 a year to transport and house inmates in jails in Wynne, Forrest City and other nearby towns.

Helena-West Helena Police Chief James Smith said his department spends between $6,000 and $8,000 a month on inmate transportation.

"It's been a big burden on us financially and on our manpower," Smith said.

The new facility will have 80 beds for men and 20 beds for women, in addition to creating 15 jobs, said Clark Hall, a Phillips County judge

"This is a positive statement for our community," Hall said. "We will no longer need to pay other Arkansas jails to house the county's inmates and (will) reduce the transportation costs of ferrying the inmates back and forth across county lines for court hearings."

Phillips County residents passed a measure last year that made a countywide 1 percent sales tax permanent and diverted a portion of the tax revenue toward the construction, operation and maintenance of a new county jail.

The facility's initial construction and renovation costs are estimated to cost about $8.8 million.