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| Ark. Prison Beds Sit Empty with Budget on Hold |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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State correction officials have nearly 700 prison beds ready to hold inmates, but the beds sit empty because the Correction Department, like other state agencies, has no money to use them. Correction spokeswoman Dina Tyler said recently that the department has built a new unit in Malvern in central Arkansas with more than 300 beds, and is waiting for state money to hire and train staff to run the unit. Meanwhile, 1,111 state prisoners were backed up in county jails April 23 because the state didn't have the room in its prisons. Another 150 beds at the Varner unit and 200 in Newport, with another 200 to be ready by July 1, sit available but vacant. 'The lights are on and nobody's home,' Tyler said. 'It is very frustrating. I'll look at the count sheet and see how badly we're backed up and I know that we have those beds. Sometimes it's to the point that my head hurts. But what are we to do? We don't have the money to open them. That's the most infuriating thing.' Last week, the Legislature adjourned without passing a state budget for the two-year period that begins July 1, amid a dispute between Senate leaders and a group of House conservatives. The House members want to use money normally set aside for one-time capital improvement projects to help cover a $220 million-a-year budget shortfall in 2004 and 2005. Senate leaders want to preserve about half of the expected $80 million General Improvement Fund for local projects and hike tobacco taxes by 15 percent. Gov. Mike Huckabee decided to call a special session for May 5 to deal with the unfinished budget business. He said he would make the call formal, probably next week. The Senate had unanimously approved a budget that included more revenue for the state's most pressing needs, human services and prisons. That measure would have funded the prison budget at close to the governor's recommended level, which included $28 million in new money for fiscal 2004 and $25 million in 2005, when another 600 new beds at Malvern should be up and running. The measure died without being considered by the House, but many expect it to be the starting point of budget work in the special session, and Tyler said she was optimistic the agency would get the money it needs. 'If we had the money, we could at least begin the hiring process,' Tyler said. It takes about two months from getting the money to actually opening the prison because people must be hired and trained, she said. The beds have been ready since January. She said the problem at Malvern is twofold -- not only do the completed beds sit empty, but also inmates who could work on other phases of the construction project aren't there to do the work. 'If we're not in there, we can't be building,' Tyler said. Legislators, Republican and Democrat, House and Senate, have said they are committed to finding money for human services and prisons. 'No one in any way will have walked away from unfinished business in this Legislature,' Rep. Marvin Parks, R-Greenbrier, said recently. 'If we thought for one moment that would not get done, we would not have stopped.' |
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