Address jail crowding now, Washington County sheriff urges.

FAYETTEVILLE — Sheriff Tim Helder isn’t opposed to Washington County exploring alternatives to incarceration, but he cautioned that jail crowding is a problem to be addressed now.

“I’m willing to listen to what they have to say, but we’re only getting further behind,” Helder said.

The Quorum Court’s Jail/ Law Enforcement Committee is set to resume its discussion about jail crowding when the justices of the peace meet tonight.

Helder asked the justices of the peace to consider a $38 million plan to expand the jail. Voters would have to approve the plan and a half-percent sales tax to pay for the expansion. The proposal would also ask voters to approve a quarter-percent sales tax for jail operating and maintenance costs. The jail operating budget is supplemented by about $1.4 million from the county’s general fund.

The Quorum Court has put off sending the jail-expansion proposal to a vote, choosing to explore alternatives to reduce the jail population.

Ann Harbison, a justice of the peace in the southern part of the county, plans to introduce at tonight’s meeting a request for an assessment of the entire criminal justice system. The assessment would take about a year to complete, Harbison said at a County Services Committee meeting on June 3.

Other justices of the peace supported the idea of an assessment.

“It’s important to look at ways to keep some of our pretrial people from having to be incarcerated,” said Justice of the Peace Suki Highers, whose district includes parts of Fayetteville.

Helder said the justices of the peace need to understand the scope of the problem. He said jail crowding is getting worse. In the past, Helder said, the jail population would spike, then decline. Now, he said, those spikes are becoming normal.

“Our numbers are getting such that we’re overcrowded at a sustained rate,” Helder said. “It could come to the point where we have to say nobody else gets to come into the facility. In just the recent past, we’ve had 100 or more sleeping on the floor or stacked along the walls in intake. To do nothing is the worst possible action, in my opinion.”

The jail has a design capacity of 710 beds. It’s generally full at about 675 inmates because of state and federal laws and regulations that mandate inmates be separated in a variety of categories, according to the sheriff’s office.

Helder said his office works with Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett and the circuit judges to keep the jail population manageable. He said the county is releasing an average of 200 inmates a month through reduced bail or citations.

The problem, Helder said, is that the number of people being taken to the jail keeps increasing as the area’s population grows. Records for 2014 show 11,114 prisoner intakes. In 2018, that had grown to 13,255.

The sheriff’s office has to balance intakes with the release of inmates to keep the jail population manageable, Helder said.

Durrett said his office works closely with the sheriff’s office and jail and regularly recommends that inmates be released on citation or reduced bond. Durrett echoed Helder’s comments about being willing to listen and participate in an assessment.

Jon Comstock of Rogers, a former Benton County circuit judge, is among those pushing the county to consider alternatives. Comstock submitted a letter showing that reductions could be achieved by reducing the reliance on bail to ensure people appear in court. Comstock said studies of programs nationwide have shown that most people eligible for bail will appear if they are released from jail.

“They live here, have families and jobs in the community for the most part,” Comstock said. “Most of the people you see in jail for failure to appear haven’t absconded. They haven’t left the jurisdiction of the court. They have other problems. We need to find ways to help them meet their obligations, whether it’s transportation to and from court or reminders.”

Comstock said the county has some programs, such as drug court and veterans court, that have been successful at diverting people from incarceration. Those programs should be expanded, he said. Programs to help inmates address issues with substance abuse, which would help many people being incarcerated, need to be made available to people at the point they’re arrested, he said, not months later as is often the case now.

Comstock said the solution will likely be a combination of programs, not just a single solution.