Prisons, jails are ‘non’ topic with average voters in Arkansas

Already, I can tell the earnest readers of this space, I have lost many who simply refuse to read or digest any information on the lack of jail space, new prison bed construction or costly rehabilitation programs for those who commit crimes in our state.

To the average man and woman on the street, those who break the law should expect to find themselves in as sparse a jail or prison cell as the laws and our social conscience allows.

To write about building new prisons, to elevate overcrowding or lack of jail space is almost a lost cause.

Few, if any, want to read opinions, much less facts on the subject in Arkansas.

Only a small, and thankfully vocal minority, has maintained a steady drumbeat of late for halting the “building more human cages,” and in a very academic way wanting to discuss bail, bonds, treatment and programs for the non-violent criminals.

Those sessions of academic back-and-forth about how to better handle minor offenses to release those non-violent individuals from being jailed, is worth the effort.

Most prosecuting attorneys, judges, other court officials and certainly all law enforcement officers would participate in that discussion and also in new laws, if passed to do so. This debate for a non-violent offender, or someone who cannot seem to obey the laws of justice for petty crimes, is almost – well – almost unending.

The general public, in all fairness, thinks not everyone deserves jail or jail time, but laws on the books are hard to circumvent – even socially.

Locally, the county jails are overcrowded with state prison inmates waiting to be transferred to the state lock ups. The local jail inmates are also filling up available jail beds, crowding court dockets and almost universally unable to make a reasonable bond or some-time of civil type arrangement and keep it, to meet the charges brought up against them – even on minor non-violent charges.

If you’ve ever set in a session of municipal court for the lesser offenders of justice – shall we say, speeding – which is a misdemeanor offense, almost two out of three defendants coming before the local judge has (a) simply missed a set court date, (b) been unable to pay on the fine imposed in a previous court session or (c) is now being held in contempt of court for blatant failure to appear and a warrant was issued to compel the appearance out of pure social ignorance.

And if the third instance of failure to appear warrants being issued and a subsequent arrest to compel the defendant to the courtroom, in most instances a long and lengthy relationship with the courts and possibly subsequent jail visits are in store for the accused.

Today’s statistics about the number of Arkansans and Americans residing behind bars is staggering.

So is the level of violence in our county, our state, the capitol city of our state and across the nation.

Now, it seems, our social consciousness of this nation is only injured and our attention is gathered when a “mass” shooting in public places (such as shopping malls, or concert venues) or even more tragically “school” shootings in the public schools, occurs.

The old stories of the past where an angry man was arrested for waving a gun at police officers who came to the home to quell a domestic violence complaint – seem so tame. Until that man fires his gun at the police, that I am sure we all will agree should result in some time away from the public.

Yes, sadly Arkansas looks in line to build more jail cells, build more prisons and many are not happy about that outcome.

Governors hate to announce the need for more cells, legislators hate to pay for this construction, so all, it seems, turn to the rising violent crime rates to say: Here is the reason.

If one were to say: “Gun violence is the reason” for these cells, everyone would back away.

And now a small but vocal group of elected officials would stop complaining about the costs of prisons and begin screaming only about the “Second Amendment.”

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