Sobering center funds to be sought
Guidance Center site would be alternative to Sebastian County jail
FORT SMITH — Stakeholders in the Sebastian County criminal justice system hope the federal government gives them money to establish a place for intoxicated people as an alternative to the county jail.
Rusti Holwick, chief executive officer for the Fort Smith-based Guidance Center, asked members of the county Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee on Wednesday for their signatures on a letter to submit to Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge requesting the opportunity to apply for federal money.
The money would go to a sobering center at the Guidance Center.
Nick Zaller, a professor at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, drafted the letter, Holwick said. Zaller spoke to the committee Oct. 7 about how sobering centers in other parts of the country are operated.
The letter defines sobering centers as alternatives to emergency departments or county jails in which intoxicated people can be safely observed until they are sober.
“While the overall structure and scope of practice varies among sobering centers nationally, most centers are short term (typically less than 24 hours) facilities that provide supervision and support services, such as basic case management, food and referrals for social services and/or substance use treatment,” the letter states.
Sobering centers are voluntary, with people referred to these places being able to leave whenever they want, according to the letter. Many sobering centers also accept people intoxicated with substances besides alcohol, such as opioids or stimulants. Most have an operating budget between $400,000 to
The Guidance Center has been the site of the Sebastian County Five West Crisis Stabilization Unit since 2018.
$4 million annually, the letter states.
Holwick told the committee Oct. 7 the Guidance Center, a nonprofit behavioral health care provider, had space available for a potential sobering center. It anticipated such a facility would be a “very sparse space” with 10 mats for intoxicated people.
Holwick has said most of the money spent running a sobering center would go toward staffing it throughout eight-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cost was determined to be about $521,000 annually, or about $43,000 monthly.
Holwick also spearheaded a subcommittee meeting Oct. 15 in which she and other members of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee discussed moving forward with a sobering center associated with the Guidance Center. She and Zaller thought about drafting the letter on the committee’s behalf after Holwick spoke with Kathryn Griffin, justice reinvestment coordinator for Hutchinson, following that meeting.
Holwick said she met with County Judge David Hudson, along with Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken, Mayor George McGill and Police Chief Danny Baker, earlier last week to review the projected budget for the sobering center. They agreed to seek federal money.
County Circuit Judge Gunner DeLay, coordinating committee chairman, suggested getting local state legislators to sign the letter to indicate their support, in addition to clarifying which signatures are and aren’t from committee members.
The Quorum Court established the committee in August 2017 to find ways to reduce the jail population and improve the justice system.
Among the solutions are drug, veterans and mental health courts; a crisis stabilization unit; alternative sentencing and diversion programs; special accelerated court dockets; and electronic monitoring and signature bonds for nonviolent felonies.
The Guidance Center has been the site of the Sebastian County Five West Crisis Stabilization Unit since 2018. This is used to divert those with mental illnesses from jail to treatment in Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Scott and Polk counties.