Prison and Correctional Policies in Arkansas

Introduction

Arkansas's corrections policies have been credited with helping the state avoid problems that have reached the crisis point in other states during the 1980s. For example, overcrowded prisons and jails have resulted in federal court intervention in 41 states (not including Arkansas), and corrections is now one of the fastest growing segments of state budgets (Glaze, 98-101).

Meanwhile, the goal of state policy in Arkansas has been to sanction offenders fairly, effectively, and efficiently. Both the Community Corrections Act of 1973 and the 1978 legislation establishing sentencing guidelines were aimed at reserving state prisons for dangerous, repeat offenders and encouraging local sanctions for less dangerous offenders.

While these programs may have helped to control prison populations and correctional costs, now there are indications that they may not be working as well as originally intended. Although Arkansas's incarceration rate remains one of the lowest in the country, the state's prisons and jails are full despite the beds that have been added during the past ten years. State expenditures for corrections have been growing, and county spending has increased even more rapidly than the state's. In May 1990, the Legislative Audit Commission asked for a review of state corrections issues. Our report addresses the following questions:

We visited jails and attended meetings of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission and the Jail Standards Task Force, which will be recommending changes to the current standards in 1991. We surveyed probation officers and corrections administrators, and collected and analyzed information describing corrections problems in Arkansas and the U.S.

We found that Arkansas's overcrowding problems are not as severe as those in most other states. But, paralleling national trends, Arkansas has experienced a substantial increase in the number of offenders in prisons and jails and on probation. Arkansas has managed to avoid serious problems until recently largely because there was excess capacity in prisons and jails when the period of growth in incarceration began. But now state and local correctional facilities are at or over capacity and probation caseloads have grown to critical levels.

7The growth in the offender population has accelerated since 1986, and is projected to continue. The main reason for the growth is that more people are being punished in more serious ways than in the past. The state faces a choice: build more jails and prisons or make changes in sentencing and correctional policies which would manage the expected increase in offenders more efficiently (Mellen, 6-11).

Discussion

Arkansas's Correctional Problems

The evidence suggests that Arkansas's corrections system is under growing stress.

In 1990, Arkansas's state prisons operated at 102 percent of capacity, and local jails operated at 92 percent.

Ideally, according to the Department of Corrections, jail use should average between 60 percent and 80 percent of capacity because extra beds are needed to segregate different types of inmates and to accommodate peak demand. Larger facilities need less excess capacity. In 1989, over 60 percent of jails and other local detention facilities had average daily populations in excess of the Department of Corrections' suggested limits, and nine jails ...