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Jump in prison population perplexing, board told Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau PINE BLUFF - Since January the state prison population has averaged 108 new inmates a month, more than three times the monthly average over the past 10 years, the state Board of Corrections heard Tuesday. Officials were at a lost to explain the spike in numbers. "We're not sure what's going on," state Prison Director Larry Norris said, hinting during the board's monthly meeting he might ask the Legislature next year for additional funding to build a new prison. Also Tuesday, the board attended a dedication ceremony and renamed the old Jefferson County jail as the Randall L. Williams Correctional Facility. Norris said 1,034 state inmates were being held in county jails awaiting transport to the Department of Correction on Tuesday, and 13,704 already were housed in state prison units built to accommodate 12,723 inmates. "That's a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things and getting caught a lot," Norris said. He said prison officials are trying to determine the cause of the sudden increase in the inmate population, including a 158 increase in the past month. "That's crazy," said Mary Parker of Little Rock, the board's vice chairman. Norris said he could not explain the surge "with any degree of confidence." "We don't know," he said. "The sentences are generally shorter but they're staying a little longer, but not that much longer. I'm not ready to answer that," he said. George Brewer, a research and planning administrator with the department, said after the meeting several factors could be involved in pushing up the inmate population. For one, nearly two out of three women and about half the men entering prison in Arkansas are new to the system, Brewer said. Also, the state's overall population is growing, which would naturally mean more people going to prison, he said. "If you have the same percentage of people going in (to prison) as you did 10 years ago you are going to have more people in prison," he said. Another factor, Brewer said, the number of courts in the state sending people to prison has increased in recent years, "so they're processing people faster." "I don't think it's any one thing," Brewer said. "I think it's a bunch of little pieces that are going together to cause the increase." During the meeting, board member Drew Baker of Little Rock asked Norris if officials were looking at sites to build a new prison. "Well, we'll be bringing you a request ... before we take it to the Legislature," Norris said. Officials have not determined how a new prison would be funded, he said. The department will present its proposed budget for the upcoming biennium to the governor and Legislature this fall. Until a new facility can be built, the only relief for the overcrowding problem will be the scheduled summer 2009 opening of a $39 million, 862-bed facility in Malvern, Norris said. To help ease overcrowding, the board voted to make another 103 inmates - 90 men and 13 women - eligible to apply for early parole under the Emergency Powers Act. The act gives the board the power to help speed up the parole process for inmates who are within three months of their release date and have good behavior records. The board has invoked the act every 90 days for the past nine years. Tuesday's action was an update of its vote to invoke the EPA in February. Earlier Tuesday, the board dedicated the 516-bed Randall L. Williams Correction Facility in Pine Bluff. The board purchased the building for $3 million in December. The structure has been refurbished and now houses state inmates, as well as 32 developmentally disabled prisoners and 66 beds for the department's prison intake unit. Williams was a Jefferson County circuit judge from 1993 to 2000 and also served as chairman of the Board of Corrections. |
