Prison board OKs plan at meeting

The Arkansas Board of Corrections decided Monday where to send some parole and probation violators under criminal justice changes approved this year by the Legislature.

The board chairman, Benny Magness, pushed through a proposal he said was shaped with input from both Arkansas Community Correction, which oversees probation and parole services, and the Department of Correction, which manages state prisons.

Also during the board meeting, held at the Wrightsville Unit in Pulaski County, Magness expressed concern for how each department would operate under tight budgets.

Faced with overcrowding that is projected to worsen in the next decade, the Legislature passed Act 423 of 2017 this spring, with the intention of diverting certain offenders from prison. The section of the law affecting parolees and probationers goes into effect Oct. 1.

Under Act 423, probationers and parolees sanctioned for slip- ups such

as failing a drug test or committing certain misdemeanor offenses were intended to be sent to Community Correction facilities for between 45 and 180 days supervision.

Still, the Board of Corrections was given final authority for choosing where to send those “technical violators.”

Community Correction, which operates low-security residential centers, raised concerns that those facilities were ill-equipped to handle offenders with serious medical needs or a history of violence toward officers and other inmates.

That raised the issue of state prisons being able to provide similar re-entry programs if they housed technical violators, said Solomon Graves, a spokesman for the Department of Correction.

Under Magness’ plan, which was approved without dissent from his fellow board members, parole violators deemed a “threat to the community” would be revoked to prison.

An offender with a history of assaulting a law enforcement officer or correctional officer, attacking another inmate with a weapon or sexually assaulting another inmate would be deemed a “threat,” under Magness’ plan.

With a revocation to prison, the parolee would not be eligible for the programs offered by Community Correction.

The plan also calls for probation and parole violators with medical issues to be housed by the Department of Correction with “reasonable” accommodation for the programming they receive.

Graves, the prison spokesman, said there are no modified programs for such probationers or parolees in prison, but some will have to be adopted to abide by the plan.

Magness said parole and probation violators would only be housed in prison medical beds for as long as they need to be there. Using the example of a “cast coming off,” the chairman said violators could be sent back to a Community Correction center once their health improves.

Sheila Sharp, director of Community Correction, said she did not have an estimate for how many of the technical violators under Act 423 would be medically frail or disqualified for violent histories.

A 2016 task force report that recommended many of the changes included in Act 423 estimated the short-term lockups could free as many as 1,600 prison beds for more serious offenders.

Still, Magness reiterated Monday, more prison beds will have to be built to keep up with a growing inmate population, regardless of the Legislature’s attempts to mitigate overcrowding.

Lawmakers did not approve money for new prison beds during the 2017 session, despite repeated requests by Magness and other prison officials.

Earlier this year, Magness said he would “beg” the governor for more money, after the state trimmed its budget due to lower-than-expected revenue. The Legislature later approved rainy-day funds for some corrections programs. On Monday, Sharp and state prisons director Wendy Kelley told Magness they adopted tighter budgets for next year with leftover rainy-day funds and salary savings.

That prompted Magness to worry that prisons were relying on a large number of unfilled jobs to balance the budget.

Kelley said the Department of Correction was working to fill vacancies, especially at three larger units located in the Arkansas Delta.