County jail closed to new inmates
A county committee that met Wednesday, apparently without advance notice to the media, decided to temporarily close the Garland County Detention Center because of overcrowding, according to documents obtained Friday by the newspaper, along with information obtained from county officials.
The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee that met Wednesday was formed to make recommendations to the Garland County Quorum Court.
According to the attorney general’s Arkansas Freedom of Information Handbook, “any meeting, formal or informal, regular or special, of a governing body including sub-bodies,” is subject to the FOIA statute’s notification requirement.
The Sentinel-Record did not receive advance notice of the meeting.
Division 1 Circuit Judge John Homer Wright was the committee’s only elected official in attendance Wednesday, according to minutes the newspaper obtained Friday through an FOIA request. Committee members Matt McKee, the District 9 justice of the peace, Joe Graham, the Division 1 district judge and Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence are the committee’s other elected officials, but their attendance wasn’t reflected in the minutes.
Sheriff Mike McCormick is not a committee member but was in attendance.
County Attorney John Howard, who was also at the meeting, said Wednesday was the first and only time the committee had met. It’s scheduled to meet again Aug. 14.
Chief Deputy of Corrections Steven Elrod, who chairs the committee, said he suggested the temporary closure.
“After analysis, the committee was unable to identify alternative means to relieve the current inmate population which is not already being exploited,” he said. “Therefore, a recommendation was made to close the jail with no objections noted by the committee.”
The female population of county inmates, which includes those convicted of felonies and awaiting transfer to the Arkansas Department of Correction but excludes the roughly 20 state inmates held as part of a work release program, has been at capacity since early this year, leading to a one-for-one policy that took effect in February. For every woman booked into the jail one has had to be released.
The male population hit that threshold earlier this week, Elrod said. Excluding state inmates held as part of the work release program, the male count was 291 by midweek, pushing the total count of male and female county inmates to 353.
The five male housing units the county can staff have 297 beds, Elrod
said. The female pod has 68 beds. It held 62 county inmates by midweek. Counts reaching 95 percent of those respective capacities pose an unacceptable risk to inmate and staff safety, he said. The jail’s direct supervision method, where 30 to 70 inmates unencumbered by intervening barriers orbit a single detention deputy, becomes difficult to maintain at 85 percent capacity, the jail has said.
“Sheriff Mike McCormick will not refuse to accept any person lawfully arrested of a high level (felony) crime or committed within the jurisdiction who poses an apparent danger to our community,” said a memo the sheriff’s office issued Wednesday that was obtained Friday by the newspaper. “This closure will remain in effect until such time as the inmate population drops to a level equal to or less than 58 female and/or 252 male inmates.”
The memo cited the statute authorizing sheriffs and jail administrators to refuse arrestees if the jail is overcrowded.
Elrod said most of the jail’s current population is not subject to measures such as alternative sentencing or early release that could ease overcrowding. As of Tuesday, 286 inmates were being held on felony charges and 30 were waiting to serve felony sentences in state facilities.
Other counties that were taking Garland County inmates awaiting transfer to the ADC face overcrowding issues of their own, Elrod said.
The $42 million county detention center opened in June 2015 after voters passed a temporary 0.625 percent sales tax to finance its construction and a permanent 0.375 percent levy to operate and maintain it. It was built after overcrowding at the previous detention facility on Ouachita Avenue reached a critical level.