JPS poised to approve hiring at jail

Additional jailers needed to open 80 beds at facility

After more than six months of the Pulaski County jail oftentimes exceeding inmate capacity, the Quorum Court is set to approve additional staffing to open 80 more beds at the facility.

The addition would be the first expansion of the jail’s capacity since December 2010 — when the facility gained 75 beds to reach its current capacity of 1,130 — and would open a third of the 240-bed construction project that is expected to be completed by the end of July, officials said.

The hiring ordinance, which would transfer $242,000 from the county’s general fund to the jail’s operation budget to hire 13 detention officers and a lieutenant through the rest of the year, easily passed the county services committee on Tuesday. If the measure is approved at the full Quorum Court meeting June 26, Sheriff Doc Holladay said his office would have more options than in the past.

“It allows us to be more selective about who we keep or who we don’t keep in terms of misdemeanors, particularly, and some non-

violent felons, because the more beds we have available, the longer [the jail can hold offenders] and more people we can keep,” Holladay said.

The jail was unable to house many misdemeanor and nonviolent offenders in the past because of a lack of space, a problem that the sheriff’s office has dealt with for years.

In 2005, budget cuts forced the county to reduce the number of beds in use at the jail to 880. Five years later, the county secured enough funding to restore the facility’s full capacity of 1,130.

According to information provided by the sheriff’s office, the jail’s current capacity is becoming increasingly more cramped.

The inmate population exceeded capacity only three times in 2011, but overpopulation has become the norm at the jail in 2012. Of the 11 days for which population figures were available since June 1, the facility exceeded capacity on eight occasions.

On April 26, the sheriff’s office tallied its highest population with 1,183 inmates, 53 over capacity.

When the jail exceeds capacity, offenders are housed in “general areas” on bunk beds, a method officials acknowledge is less secure than having inmates in cells.

But Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines said the Quorum Court was “strongly behind” the ordinance to hire additional jailers and expects it to pass easily at the end of the month.

“We’ve known we’ve needed it for a while, and we need the other 160 [beds], probably, but this [addition] gives us a more secure facility and adds 80 beds to our capacity,” Villines said.

Each 80- bed addition costs another $ 971,000 a year in staffing and operations, officials said. And the remaining 160-bed expansion is contingent on Little Rock, North Little Rock and other municipalities in the county that use the jail increasing their yearly contributions to the budget.

“I know they want more beds, if they can figure out a way to divide up the cost to pay for it,” Villines said.

The jail’s current budget is $20,010,969, with the cities in Pulaski County providing about $2.3 million a year.

Holladay said Little Rock provides $1,463,000 annually toward the jail’s operational budget, while North Little Rock contributes $625,000.

In March 2011, Holladay sent a letter to city leaders outlining the need for a revenue increase to pay for the additional staff. Since then, he said he’s been in talks with city leaders about the needs of the jail.

Holladay said he is confident the cities will include the necessary funding so the jail’s capacity will reach 1,370 in 2013. “I anticipate that the larger cities will see the need for the additional [beds], and I’m hopeful that they will include the increase in their 2013 budgets,” Holladay said.