Fund the prison, public safety
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published “Finish the job,“an op-ed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on why the Legislature should appropriate funds to build a new prison in Franklin County:
It’s been two decades since Arkansas made significant investments in its prison infrastructure. That’s two decades of chronic prison bed shortages, two decades of releasing violent offenders back into society because of lack of space, and two decades of worst-in-the-nation crime rates.
Enough is enough.
Arkansas has a chance to address this crisis head-on and help end our state’s prison bed shortage, but we need to act now. The Legislature must appropriate the funds our state needs to build a new prison.
Government has no greater responsibility than protecting its citizens’ safety. Not long ago, some left-wing states listened to “defund the police” activists and cut funding to law enforcement and prisons, with predictably disastrous results. I was elected in part because of my promise to do the opposite by supporting law enforcement and cracking down on violent crime.
That’s why I worked with the Legislature to pass the Protect Act, ensuring violent criminals do their time before they re-enter society, and why we’ve already opened up 1,500 prison beds in existing facilities.
But our state is still short thousands of prison beds. When inmates aren’t placed in state-run prisons, they are put in county-run jails that aren’t equipped for the burden of long-term incarceration, costing taxpayers around $30 million each year.
My administration is moving quickly to build a new, 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County that will boost that area’s economy while building a safer, stronger Arkansas. The state has set aside the funding we need to get the project started, and the Legislature approved a new prison by voting for the Protect Act.
Now, those same legislators must finish what they started, appropriate the full cost of our new prison, and let our state move forward. Arkansas simply can’t afford to kick the can down the road any longer.
Imagine two inmates, each convicted of a violent felony and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The first inmate is sent to the state’s Wrightsville Unit here in Pulaski County and enrolled in a program called Pathway to Freedom. I’ve visited Pathway to Freedom so I can tell you what it’s like: His schedule is packed with job training and classes to improve his social and emotional skills. He deepens his faith, learns how to handle conflict resolution, and acquires the capability to re-enter society and fulfill his God-given potential.
He is less than half as likely to recommit and return to prison as other inmates stuck in county jails who don’t have access to quality programming.
The second inmate isn’t so lucky. He is bounced around from county jail to county jail. He’s in a facility designed for petty criminals but he’s a hardened felon; it’s not long before he gets into trouble.
Before I signed the Protect Act, the state would have likely let this inmate go on parole early, sometimes years before his sentence was supposed to be up. Once he’s out, there’s about a 50 percent chance that he recommits and finds himself back behind bars within three years.
Unfortunately, the second story is much more likely than the first. That’s bad for the inmates themselves–and more importantly, it’s bad for public safety.
There are more than 3,600 individuals who have been in and out of our prison system more than four times. One individual has been through the revolving door a shocking 21 times. Clearly, these people aren’t being rehabilitated–they’re just biding their time before they can terrorize the public again.
We need to make real changes to our prison system, which is why I’ve prioritized rehabilitation programs like Pathway to Freedom. But that can’t happen if we don’t have enough prison beds to fit all our inmates and instead overcrowd county jails or release criminals back into our communities.
Arkansas has a chance to turn the page on our decades-long cycle of ignoring violent crime, instead cleaning up our streets and ensuring violent felons aren’t released until they’ve served their time and hopefully been rehabilitated.
Reject the tired excuses of politicians who don’t want criminals behind bars. Fund the prison, public safety, and a better future for all Arkansans.
