ACLU: More can be done for prisons

Group praises some efforts, lists proposals to help cut population in half

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas on Wednesday called on state lawmakers to decriminalize marijuana, end cash bail and fund increased alternatives to prison as a way of grappling with its increased prison population.

Those steps, as well as myriad other proposals in a report by the ACLU, are necessary to cut the state’s prison population in half, the organization said.

The ACLU report follows up on legislative action taken in 2017 to divert offenders away from prison by increasing the use of parole and probation, as well as creating treatment alternatives to incarceration.

While praising some aspects of that effort, the report described a “culture of criminalization” at the General Assembly it said has continued to lead to prison population growth and racial disparities in Arkansas’ criminal justice system.

“We’re not criticizing the strides that have been made and the successes that have been achieved,” said ACLU Arkansas interim director Holly Dickson. “What we’re saying is we have to do more. … We have to do more and we have to act differently to break our addiction to incarceration.” There were about 18,090 people serving prison sentences in Arkansas in August, according to the Department of Corrections. About 1,500 of those were sitting in county jails, waiting for space to open up at a state prison.

Arkansas plans to spend nearly $450 million on corrections in this year. The ACLU report focused on the high cost of locking people up in its argue for alternatives.

Among the report’s recommendations are increasing money for alternatives to incarceration, as well as for re-entry services in order to reduce recidivism.

Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Arkansas — working with the prison agency separately from the ACLU — found that the Department of Corrections’ GED and vocational school programs were cost effective in reducing recidivism rates, by cutting the expense associated with an offender returning to prison.

“We are never going to disagree with investing more money into programming for people while they are incarcerated,” said department spokeswoman Dina Tyler. Regarding changing sentencing laws, she said, “That’s up to legislators.”

Other steps proposed by the ACLU have already faced scrutiny by lawmakers.

The organization, for example, proposed an end to the suspension of driver’s licenses as a punishment for failing to pay court fines or fees. Such a bill was proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, earlier this year and passed the Senate. It then failed in the House.

Clark, as well as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, state Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment.

Dickson, of the state ACLU, said the group’s recommendations were to be

viewed as long-term goals taking a decade or more to achieve. “This is not a 2021 legislative package,” she said, referring to the next year the lawmakers will meet in a regular session.

In addition to those already mentioned, the ACLU’s proposals include:

• Expanding mental health and addition treatment.

• Increasing funding for public defenders.

• Ending the incarceration of minors in most cases.

• Expanding the use of early and compassionate release.

• Reducing racial disparities in policing and prosecutions. • Increased data collection.

In 2017, lawmakers passed Act 423, an omnibus criminal justice package aimed at reducing the number of prison revocations for offenders who violated the terms of their parole

or probation. That law has increased the number of offenders on community supervision and slowed growth at the state’s prison — according to figures reported by the state — but after a dip in the overall number of prisoners last year, prisons are on track to grow again this year.

“The Arkansas General Assembly must ensure that probation is used as an alternative to incarceration, rather than a means of widening the net of people involved in the criminal justice system,” the report states.

“The state’s courts, parole board, and General Assembly should also prohibit incarceration in all cases of technical violations.”

The ACLU has also recently criticized a plan by state and local officials to contract with LaSalle Corrections,

a private prison company, to build and operate a facility in southeast Arkansas to hold as many as 500 state inmates. The facility will hold people for cheaper than it costs to hold them in state prisons.

The chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, state Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said the prison project comes after years of the state spending more money to lock up an increasing number of people, as described in the ACLU report.

“That, and doubling down on private prisons is a horrific disservice to the state and our people,” Flowers said.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is in India this week on an economic development trip. His office didn’t provide comment on the report Wednesday.