County picks company for courts study

Work should be completed by midyear, Wood says

FAYETTEVILLE — A study of Washington County’s criminal justice system should start to yield results early next year and be completed by midyear, County Judge Joseph Wood said Friday.

Wood said county officials ranked the National Center for State Courts at the top of the list of firms to do the study. The firm presented a cost estimate of $70,000 for the work, which was the lowest of four proposals.

Wood said he hopes work on the study will begin before the end of the year.

“The projection in their proposal is for the work to be done in five or six months, so we’re looking at June or July at the latest,” he said. “They may be giving us a monthly update or one every two weeks that we can present to the Quorum Court’s Jail Committee.”

The Quorum Court authorized the study and appropriated $100,000 to pay for it as justices of the peace seek alternatives to a $38 million jail expansion proposed last year by Sheriff Tim Helder.

Helder told the justices of the peace the jail regularly exceeds its design capacity for detainees of 710. Helder said he’s working with the prosecuting attorney and the circuit court judges to lessen the crowding problem and has been releasing about 200 detainees monthly in the past few years.

Despite those efforts, Helder said there are often 70 to 100 detainees sleeping on mats on the floor because of a lack of beds.

Helder proposed a 600bed expansion to the jail, with the $38 million cost to be paid with money from a temporary sales tax. The justices of the peace balked at proceeding with the expansion and asked alternatives

be considered. The county has hired Stan Adelman, an attorney and law professor, as an ombudsman to review detainees and recommend some for release.

The county and Adelman have also been working with The Bail Project, which helps to provide money for those unable to pay the bond needed to be released and to work with those released to meet their obligations to appear in court.

Prosecutor Matt Durrett said he had the National Center for State Courts ranked highly and was impressed with the extent of their experience and expertise.

“That was my first choice,” Durrett said. “They have 40-plus years of experience in the area and a large number of employees.”

Durrett said the six-month schedule should give the county time to consider the results of the study, whatever the outcome.

“Having something in six months is a good time frame if we have to do something in terms of getting a proposal for an expansion on the ballot next year,” he said. “Or, if the recommendation is that there are things we’re not doing and we need to try, it gives us time to look at implementation.”

Patrick Deakins, justice of the peace for District 5 in Springdale, said he’s glad to see progress on the study. He said he hopes the Quorum Court will be open to whatever recommendations the study brings.

“I think preconceived notions are one of the reasons the jail situation hasn’t moved,” he said. “We need to take a position to digest whatever they bring to us and be able to act on it.”

Beth Coger of Fayetteville is a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for the District 6 seat on the Quorum Court who has been a vocal proponent of seeking alternatives to incarceration and a jail expansion project. Coger said she’s excited the study will produce results in a timely manner.

“I think it’s going to open up some new possibilities for us,” she said.

Benton County officials worked with the National

Center for State Courts during development of it’s proposal for a new courts building. County Judge Barry Moehring noted the scope of the Benton County project differs from the Washington County study of the criminal justice system.

Moehring said the firm’s work was “exemplary.” The center is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., according to its website.

“They became familiar with our unique needs,” Moehring said. “They worked hard to develop an understanding of all of the stakeholders’ concerns. I know they have expertise across the judicial landscape.”