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| AR Board of Corrections pushes for new prison despite bad timing |
| By kait8.com- Will Dupree |
| Published: 01/24/2014 |
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NEWPORT, AR (KAIT) – The Arkansas Board of Corrections announced that it would like the state to invest and build a new prison to help alleviate overcrowding. The board members agreed to push for a new 1,000-bed facility during their meeting Thursday at the Department of Correction Grimes Unit in Newport. The board estimates that a prison of this size will likely cost the state about $75 million to build. The members expressed some reluctance before moving ahead with this recommendation because their request comes just as the legislature takes up another hot button issue related to health care. Chairman Benny Magness said Thursday that he met with Governor Mike Beebe the day before to seek his support. Magness claims the governor endorsed the plan to build a new prison for $75 million. The chairman, however, said he will have to take an unusual step and look for state legislators who can help secure an additional $5 million needed to pay for the planning process for this newly proposed facility. "An agency normally doesn't go outside the governor's recommendation," Magness said. "I finally came to the conclusion that it just had to be done and to go out his [recommendation] and to find legislators that are willing to support us. I think all of them would end up knowing how important the funding is." Board members did express some reluctance before they all agreed to push for a new prison. That's because state lawmakers are also deciding whether or not to renew the so-called private option – a plan that legislators created to use federal Medicaid money to provide private insurance to low-income Arkansans through the health care exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Read More. |
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