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| Ark. Inmate Housing Bill to Rise to $1 Million |
| By The Morning News |
| Published: 03/17/2003 |
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The state of Arkansas is nearly one year behind in paying Benton County for housing state prisoners, and the bill soon will hit $1 million, according to Chief Deputy Don Townsend of the Benton County Sheriff's Office. Townsend broke that news to the Benton County Quorum Court Committee of 13 on March 4. As of the end of January, the state owes Benton County more than $860,000 for the county's housing of state inmates, he said. County jails often hold people sentenced to state prison until the Arkansas Department of Correction has room to take them. The state agency pays counties to hold the prisoners. 'The last check we received was in August of last year ... and that only included January, February and March and part of April,' Townsend told JPs. Within the next 60 days, the state will owe Benton County more than $1 million, Townsend said. The Arkansas General Assembly has taken action to force the state to pay what it owes to counties. The House recently passed a bill to require the state prison system to determine the number of inmates housed in county jails, to reimburse the county jails each month for the costs of housing the state inmates and to require the reimbursements to be used only for county jail expenses. 'Reimbursement (to county jails) shall begin on the date of sentencing, if the judgment and commitment order is received by the Department of Correction not later than 21 days from the sentencing date,' the bill states. If the judgment and commitment order gets to the state agency 22 or more days after the sentencing date, the bill says reimbursements begin as of the day the order is received. |
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