Abuse claims are ‘baseless,’ Jiles declares
Sanders joins call for prison board member’s resignation
Arkansas Board of Corrections member Alonza Jiles on Thursday denied allegations that he helped to cover up physical and sexual abuse at a treatment center decades ago, calling them “baseless.”
Jiles also described calls from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other state leaders that he resign from the Board of Corrections because of the allegations “yet another attack on Amendment 33 of the Arkansas Constitution and the shield it provides to constitutional boards against political pressure.
“The allegations against me are false,” Jiles said in a statement released through Department of Corrections spokesperson Dina Tyler. “I was not aware of, nor did I participate in any child abuse.”
Five lawsuits against Jiles and other staff members of the Lord’s Ranch have been filed since November by 52 former residents of the nowclosed facility, claiming they were abused during their time at the site.
Described in complaints as a “senior director of the Lord’s Ranch Entities and facilities” and serving as “administrative director at its primary facility located in Warm Springs,” Jiles is a defendant in each of the cases. Other defendants include Theodore E. “Ted” Suhl, the former director of the Lord’s Ranch in Randolph County, along with his mother, staff members and business entities associated with the faithbased juvenile facility.
Amendment 33 of the Arkansas Constitution prohibits the governor and Legislature from making certain kinds of changes to state boards and commissions that oversee Arkansas’ charitable, penal, correctional and higher education institutions.
Jiles issued his statement after Sanders on Thursday morning called on Jiles to resign from his seat on the Board of Corrections.
“The accusations against Alonza Jiles are concerning and a distraction from his work and the work of the Board of Corrections,” Sanders said in her statement. “I am calling on Mr. Jiles to resign from his post and allow our state to fully focus on improving community safety and ending the revolving door in our prisons.”
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuits said in a separate statement Thursday they fully support Sanders’ “insistence” that Jiles step down.
“He fully ignored his responsibility as both a staff member of this residential youth facility and as a decent human being,” Stephan D. Blanding, founding partner of Romanucci & Blandin,
and Joshua Gillispie, founder of Gillispie Law Firm, said in a release. “Had he done the right thing and reported these concerns when he first learned of them, he could have saved so many young people from the trauma of sexual abuse, which experts agree significantly alters the development of an individual and how they see and navigate the world.”
The attorneys said they “strongly believe Alonza Jiles has no role in public service.”
Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness defended Jiles’ character Wednesday but did not comment on whether he thought Jiles should resign.
“I’d say that he’s probably been told by attorneys not to make any statements in the civil suit,” Magness said. “At the same time, all the public wants him to make a comment.”
“I’ve known him for 20odd years, and he’s a good person,” Magness added.
Jiles said in his statement on Thursday that he had “kept silent about this on the advice of counsel and because these lawsuits are pending.”
Jiles, 60, was first appointed to the state Board of Corrections in 2006 by thenGov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders’ father, and was elected to be secretary of the board the next year. That term expired in 2011. Then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed him to the board again in 2022. His second term is scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2027.
If Jiles were to resign, Sanders would appoint his replacement. It would be at least the fifth appointment within the state Department of Corrections the first-term Republican governor has made since December.
The first lawsuit of the five lawsuits filed against Jiles and other staff members of the Lord’s Ranch was filed on Nov. 6, 2023, in the Eastern District of Arkansas, and was followed by a second on Jan. 9. Three more were filed on Jan. 26.
The lawsuits state Emmett Alden Presley of Jonesboro, a former counselor for the Lord’s Ranch, along with other staff members and some residents at the facility, sexually abused the plaintiffs and that Jiles, Suhl and others in leadership positions covered up attempts to report the violations. Reports described in the complaint stretch from as far back as the mid-1980s into the 2000s.
“Men and women who owned, operated and staffed the facility preyed on and abused the children housed on the remote facility in Warm Springs, Arkansas routinely and systematically,” one complaint states. “The systematic and widespread abuse included premeditated sexual abuse and child rape, often under threat of force; extreme physical violence and abuse resulting in serious injuries such as broken bones; and psychological manipulation and torment, such as isolation closets and straitjackets. The facility and its agents also engaged in concerted efforts to cover up and conceal allegations of abuse.”
One of the plaintiffs claims that in 1992, when she had turned 18, Jiles officiated a “forced” marriage between her and the facility’s social worker, William Sweetwood.
In his statement Thursday, Jiles said he “did not preside over a wedding of any minor at the Lord’s Ranch.”
The plaintiff had previously reported to the staff that Sweetwood had begun sexually abusing her when she was around 15 years old but they failed to prevent it, according to the complaint.
“Rather, Jane Doe 1 was told that Staff Member W loved her and she would learn to love him,” the document states. “Jane Doe 1 was eventually forced to marry Staff Member W at the Lord’s Ranch chapel, without her parents’ knowledge, consent, or presence.”
Jiles also is accused of breaking a resident’s arm in 2002 while administering a restraint hold. That resident, who is among the plaintiffs in the case, also reported being sexually abused at the facility.
The complaints also claim cover-ups allowed Suhl and his family “to continue profiting financially from operating the Lord’s Ranch unchecked by the outside influences and prying eyes that would follow should the outside world hear about Presley’s crimes or hear about the innumerable other acts of child abuse routinely perpetrated against the child residents.”
The Lord’s Ranch closed after Suhl went to prison in 2016 following a federal bribery and fraud conviction. Suhl was originally scheduled to be released on Feb. 5, 2023, but then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in 2019. Mike Huckabee and U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, the state chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in Arkansas, had both sought leniency for Suhl.
State Sen. Ben Gilmore, R-Crossett, expressed hopes in a Feb. 2 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Jiles would resign. Other lawmakers have since joined in calling for the board member to step down.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin also issued a statement through his spokesman calling for Jiles’ resignation.
Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said he left Jiles a message on Feb. 22 over what the senator described as “serious and mounting accusations,” asking to meet with the board member. According to Hester, he intended to call for Jiles to resign this week “if he didn’t have a pretty credible defense he could give to me.”
Although the first lawsuit naming Jiles was filed in November, state Rep. Howard M. Beaty Jr., R-Crossett, said in a letter addressed to Jiles on Tuesday that he wasn’t aware of the allegations against Jiles “until very recently.”
“It is imperative that the public has trust and confidence in the individuals serving on the Arkansas Board of Corrections, and your continued presence undermines that trust,” Beaty said. “To uphold the integrity of the Board and demonstrate accountability for your actions, I urge you to resign immediately.”
His letter also urges the board, whose members were copied on the letter, to join those insisting that Jiles resign.
State Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, likewise said he wasn’t aware of Jiles’ status as a defendant in these lawsuits until last week. Upon learning of the cases, Ray said, “I spoke to a couple of legislators to get their thoughts on the matter, and those conversations only confirmed my suspicion, which was that this was a very serious matter, and it makes total sense for someone in that situation to step away. I think that’s the decent and appropriate thing to do in this situation.”
Regarding the vacancy that would be created upon Jiles’ exit, Ray added in a text message, “There are dozens, if not hundreds of qualified individuals across the state who could serve on the Board of Corrections. We should find someone who isn’t the subject of such jarring allegations.”
Jamol Jones, another Corrections Board member, stepped down Feb. 2 after news agencies reported that he was fired in 2018 from the Benton Police Department after he admitted to an internal affairs investigator that he lied about a sexual relationship with a 17-yearold girl.
Sanders, who appointed Jones to chair the state Post-Prison Transfer Board in January, appointed Lona McCastlain to take his place in both bodies.
After the Board of Corrections voted to fire then-Corrections Department Secretary Joe Profiri on Jan. 10, Sanders appointed Department of Corrections Chief of Staff Lindsay Wallace to serve as the agency’s secretary. The body confirmed Sanders’ pick in a unanimous vote on Feb. 15.
Sanders appointed Brandon Tollett to the board in December, replacing former member Whitney Gass.
The changes came after a November news conference in which Sanders pressured board members into supporting her request to add 622 beds at several state facilities. The board had previously agreed to some of Sanders’ requests but had rejected her call for a combined 492 beds at the Barbara Ester Unit in Pine Bluff, the McPherson Unit in Newport, and the Maximum Security Unit in Jefferson County.
At the time, the board said renovations were needed at two of the facilities. Members also expressed concerns that some of the prisons were already overcrowded and the expansions wouldn’t serve county jails’ long-term needs.
The board later agreed to additional beds at the Ester Unit but hesitated to add 368 beds at the McPherson and Maximum Security units in Newport and Jefferson County. A spokesperson for Sanders’ office said on Dec. 8 that Profiri would move forward with the full plan anyway under orders from the governor.
The body soon suspended Profiri with pay and banned him from the Department of Corrections administrative building, then fired him four weeks later. Within about three hours, Sanders announced she had hired the former secretary as a senior adviser in her office.
Jiles was one of the five board members who voted in favor of Profiri’s termination, according to minutes from a Jan. 10 meeting. Board of Corrections member Lee Watson made the initial motion to fire Profiri, according to minutes from the Jan. 10 meeting. William “Dubs” Byers seconded the motion. The votes in favor of firing Profiri came from Magness, Watson, Byers, Tyrone Broomfield and Jiles. John Felts and Brandon Tollett voted no.
Sanders demanded Magness’ resignation in late December after he requested the deployment of 138 National Guardsmen to work full-time in prisons.
Sanders sharply criticized the chairman’s request, which she described as “yet another example of the desire to play political games.” In her letter to Magness, she said, “It is clear the Board of Corrections is incapable of rational, reasonable, or fiscally responsible decision making under your leadership.”
Magness, who, like Jiles, was first appointed to the board by Mike Huckabee, declined to step down.
“Since 1999, I’ve worked with every governor and have enjoyed good working relationships with each one of them,” Magness said at the close of a Dec. 22 Board of Corrections meeting. “We’ve worked together to achieve our goal to do what’s best for the Department of Corrections and the people of Arkansas. I and the board stand ready to do the same for the Governor Sanders administration.”
Two lawsuits have been filed as a result of the conflict between Sanders and the board. A lawsuit filed on Dec. 14 by the Board of Corrections accuses Sanders and Profiri of using a pair of Arkansas laws to skirt the board’s authority in an attempt to expand the number of beds at state prisons. Another, filed on Dec. 15 by the attorney general, claims the board violated the state’s open meetings and records law when it hired attorney Abtin Mehdizadegan during a closed session and that the body failed to properly respond to a Freedom of Information Act request from the attorney general’s office.
The decision to hire Mehdizadegan came in a 4-2 vote, with Magness, Watson, Byers and Gass voting in favor. Jiles and Felts voted against the motion.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James on Dec. 15 issued a temporary restraining order barring the enforcement of Act 185 of 2023 and portions of Act 659 of 2023, which the board contends weaken the board’s authority set forth in the Arkansas Constitution.
After a hearing in early January, James converted the order into a preliminary injunction, which will stay in place until the lawsuit is resolved.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox dismissed Griffin’s Freedom of Information lawsuit on Jan. 22, though Griffin has filed notices of appeal in both cases.