The crumbling Scott County AR jail was shuttered Friday for repeated failure to meet jail standards, forcing the sheriff to farm out his prisoners to other counties.  From NWANews.

Sheriff Cody Carpenter said members of the 15th Judicial District Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee showed up at his office Thursday and ordered him to close the jail after he told them he hadn’t made any of the improvements the committee ordered a year ago.  He said there was no way to bring the obsolete 10-bed jail into compliance without rebuilding it …

Carpenter had to scramble to find bed space for his prisoners in other jurisdictions. He said two of the six county prisoners were sent to Yell County and the other four went to Sebastian County. Scott County [already] houses its female prisoners and juvenile detainees in other counties. Without a jail of his own, Carpenter said it will be time- consuming and a drain on his budget to seek out jail space in other areas, burn fuel and time transporting prisoners and paying to use someone else’s jail …

Carpenter has to look for bed space in other counties despite having a new $5 million, 76-bed jail only a few feet from his office. The sheriff doesn’t have enough money to operate it.  His operating budget now is about $200,000, and he said he would need another $300,000 a year to operate the new jail, which he said would fill to capacity immediately.  He also would have to double or triple the size of his jail staff, now at six.

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After three failed sales tax proposals and years of overcrowding, the Pulaski County AR Jail is finally getting some relief.

The County Quorum Court unanimously approved allocating $1.1 million to fund 100 additional beds and 21 detention officers … Sheriff Doc Holladay says the 100 additional beds are “a step in the right direction.” The beds will be in the former work center, which Holladay calls a satellite unit. The detention officers should be trained and the beds should be ready by June 1. Holladay says they hope to add 150 more beds, which he says could be funded by the legislature and city governments within the county.

The funds come from a $7m budget surplus the County has built up.

Holladay also says he’s happy the county is not having to raise taxes or ask the people to pay for these improvements.

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Arkansas’ 41 drug courts have abruptly canceled the treatment program that its circuit judges consider their most effective tool in battling addiction after funding ran out because of budget cuts and overspending.

Miller County Circuit Judge Joe Griffin said the $1.5 million fund had about $20,000 remaining, so the judges decided they had to stop paying for residential treatment, ordering that defendants in the programs be immediately removed from court-funded programs. “We decided we better call a halt to it right now and see if we could get additional funding right now while the Legislature is in session,” he said, calling the funding shortfall a surprise. “We decided the important thing to do is be wise stewards of our tax money and just stop” …

Benton County Circuit Judge Jay Finch expects seven defendants to be affected out of a 100-person caseload. He said he was frustrated that some judges used up their allotments too soon.  “It just really frosts me to be told ‘no you can’t send any more – as a matter of fact you’ve got to bring back those you have because somebody else has spent your money,” Finch said.   Finch said he had about $30,000 left to spend and seven people in inpatient treatment. He said because some judges spent twice their budgets, he has to beg to keep his people in treatment …

How many defendants in Arkansas will be affected isn’t known. Judges were still assessing the impact on Wednesday, but Carol Roddy, the state drug court coordinator, said the state’s treatment providers are committed to keeping defendants enrolled, even with the possibility that they might never be paid for their services. Drug courts are an alternative to prison for alcohol- and drug-addicted defendants, and the courts provide treatment options, including a variety of counseling, combined with regular drug testing, court monitoring and education … The reduction was part of a series of Community Correction cuts made to satisfy the 7 percent cost-saving demands that Gov. Mike Beebe made of every state agency, said Rhonda Sharp, agency spokesman. The agency’s budget was cut by $6.4 million, and she said the judges chose to sacrifice half of the residential-treatment funding rather than undergo cuts in staffing that would have severely reduced the number of drug counselors and probation officers Community Correction provides to the drug court.

The article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette has much more detail.

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It won’t be long before the new Boone County AR Jail opens and there will be a lot more staff to maintain all those extra beds.  In preparation for that, Mike Rainwater, the Little Rock lawyer who handles litigation for many counties in the state, visited with the new staff earlier this week to give them an idea of what to expect and how to professionally handle the new jail.

Rainwater stressed that while some county jail inmates are state 309 prisoners (who are convicts working at the jail), are waiting transport to prison after conviction or have been sentenced to serve time in the county jail, most are ones awaiting trial.  “They haven’t been convicted of anything,” he said …

[C]ounty jail standards are governed by the 14th Amendment, which guarantees a defendant dues process of law and equal protection under the law.  The job of jail personnel, then, is to maintain order, security and peace and nothing more, Rainwater said … As jailers, they have few rights, other than as a person, once they put on the uniform. Conversely, inmates have all the rights guaranteed them under the Constitution. Still, he said, jail staff have the power to keep the peace and there is no need for rights when you have the power.

There is more at the Harrison Daily Times.

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Though it’s only been about two months since LeaAnna McCreary stepped into the Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center, the 20-year-old fiancé and mother admits she’s already beginning to heal.

“ I’ve learned from my mistakes, ” she said. “ I can’t change my past, but I can change my future. ”  McCreary is one of nearly 100 women residing in an all-female correctional facility, located … in Fayetteville. The minimum security center opened in April and houses nonviolent female offenders. It’s one of five such centers in the state. The others are in Texarkana, Osceola, Little Rock and Pine Bluff. The 325-bed facility in Pine Bluff is the only other center specifically for women.

Maggie Capel, facility supervisor, said the North- west Arkansas center was originally set up to house 172 residents, but unexpected budget cuts knocked the building’s capacity back to 100. Currently, the center is at full capacity. After being detained in the Washington County Detention Center for about five months, McCreary said transferring to the community corrections facility felt like a significant upgrade. “ There are a lot of little things that make a big difference, ” she said. “ For instance, they don’t make you chop off your hair when you come in, and they let you wear makeup. That’s a big deal for a lot of women. Another thing is the food — it’s amazing. The dessert is my favorite. ”

Capel said the center differs from other, larger correctional facilities because of its emphasis on rehabilitation rather than punishment. The Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center, she said, focuses on behavior modification and provides an alternative to traditional prison sentences. “ I don’t think many people think of correctional facilities as healing, but that’s what we’re supposed to do, ” she said. “ Their punishment is that they’re here and they can’t leave. It’s not to torture them further ” In addition to being court-ordered, residents must be nonviolent offenders to gain acceptance into the program. Sex offenders are not permitted.

Residents’ average length of stay is about nine months with a maximum of two years. Located on College Avenue, the correction center is at the site of the former Washington County jail and was also used as a temporary shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Renovation of the building started in July 2007. Department employees and male inmates from another detention center spent months converting the former jail, built in 1988, into the female detention center. The Arkansas General Assembly spent about $ 700, 000 improving the facility by adding new paint and removing some bars and doors, among other renovations. Razorwire and security fences were also removed from around the building.

“ When we transferred our first residents from the Pine Bluff facility, they wanted to go back, ” Capel said. “ Some of them cried. After a while though, they started to realize how much they liked being in a smaller facility. They began to appreciate the individualized attention. ” The facility features individual pods, along with a chow hall, mental health office, infirmary, nurse’s office, exercise room, law library, laundry facility, post office area, kitchen, outdoor recreation area and an adjoining administrative building. Walls inside the law library feature a painted mural adorned with books and a fireplace. The room contains a computer that can be used to access various legal information and court-related data … Capel said the possibility of a work-release program is currently on the horizon. “ If we could get back out into the community, I think that would be great, ” she said. “ I also think it would help improve their selfesteem. ”

After entering the facility, McCreary underwent a 30-day orientation phase. She was placed in a room with two sets of bunk beds and a television mounted in a corner. Also hanging on either wall were two bulletin boards adorned with pictures of residents’ loved ones. During the evening hours, residents in the orientation phase are permitted to watch about 30 minutes of local or national news. All facility residents are required to wear bright yellow uniforms adorned only with a photo I. D. While walking through the building, occupants must always walk with their hands behind their backs, also known as the “ soldier at arms” position. After the orientation period, residents complete Phase II and III of the program. Each phase includes support classes, counseling and specific chores. Phase II lasts between three and four months, while the last phase lasts approximately three months or until the a resident is released.

More details on this exciting program from the Northwest Arkansas News.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics has just released the 2005 Census of Federal and State Correctional Facilities.  The document has a wealth of data across all States, including the numbers of privately-operated facilities.

The document can be accessed from the Basic Stats list at the top right sidebar.

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• Washington will expand their GPS monitoring program for sex offenders.
• Also in Washington, prison employees have rejected the latest contract.
• Court allows Arkansas to drug test parolees again after dispute over lab.

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Interrogation room confessions aren’t the only way a crime suspect’s words can come back to haunt him at trial.

With jails across the country using automated recording systems to monitor inmate telephone calls, a suspect’s idle chitchat can become incriminating evidence.  In Washington County AR, defendants charged in the April 2007 deaths of Kendall Rachell Rice and Kevin Barkley Jones incriminated themselves during telephone calls from the jail to relatives. Despite objections from defense attorneys, a judge ruled the calls don’t violate a defendant’s right against self-incrimination …

The Washington County sheriff’s office uses a digital recording system that tracks and stores calls that inmates make from the jail’s pay phones.  Each inmate is assigned an identification code that is attached to all calls, which police and prosecutors can access via a secure Web site, said Cpl. Jak Kimball, information technology manager at the sheriff’s office. The system has other features, such as blocking certain numbers and detecting threeway calls, which aren’t allowed, Kimball said.  In a 24-hour period last week, the jail’s 530-some inmates made roughly 10,000 collect calls, Kimball said.   “The numbers are incredible,” he said. “You get inmates who are extremely bored, and that’s what they do: call people” …

Tim Buckley, an attorney for [the defendant], argued that the jail’s process of recording the calls is a “silent form of interrogation.” He argued to exclude the calls as evidence on the basis Westeen had the right not to self-incriminate.   Inmates are told by a judge at an initial appearance that they’re allowed to call friends and family, which gives the impression they can speak freely without legal ramifications, Buckley said.  The recorded AT&T message an inmate hears at the beginning of the call that says it “may” be monitored or recorded isn’t good enough, Buckley said.  “It sounds like a customer service or a quality-assurance message,” he said. “We argued it ought to be a stronger warning.” Circuit Judge William Storey ruled against Buckley’s argument, finding the recording process isn’t an active interrogation; therefore, it doesn’t require a Miranda rights warning.

More on this important story from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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• Capt Carla Kennedy has been appointed commanding officer of the Santa Rita jail in Alameda County CA, the first woman to hold the position.
• Community work service program works in Benton County AK

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• Canadian Federal parolees to get GPS monitors for first time.
• In Philadelphia, 49% of corrections officers are women.
• Reform and re-entry are key to the future of the system in Fiji.
• Arkansas rules on grooming supersede religious rights says court.

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