Our View

Our View

Serious concerns with Arkansas’s prison system

The bad news, as most of us are aware, is that our state’ prison system is dealing with some serious issues from the safety of corrections officers, overcrowded prisons, underpaid staff and a growing number of prison jobs going unfilled.

The good news is that these problems aren’t just unique to Arkansas and exist in states such as Texas, for example, where state data shows many prison units there are understaffed with a nearly 30 percent statewide turnover rate just last year.

In fact, vacancy rates at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice edged past 12 percent in the last fiscal year, with more than 3,200 jobs unfilled.

And, data from the Texas State Auditor’s Office show a 28 percent turnover rate in the state’s roughly 26,000 officers at the Criminal Justice Department last year. The rate exceeded 40 percent in some places.

One of the main reasons prison officials cited as the problem is that many corrections officers are leaving for better paying jobs and experts say low wages contribute to the staffing challenges in prisons, including those right here in Arkansas.

Now then, let’s refresh everyone’s knowledge as to what Arkansas is currently coping with and what is being done to stop the hemorrhaging.

One of the biggest things our lawmakers and the Arkansas Board of Corrections officials did was to approve the spending of an additional $2.5 million for overtime.

Now, we’re not sure what the salary range is in Arkansas for a incoming corrections officer but in Texas the pay starts at about $32,000 per year and plateaus at $43,000 after seven years.

As we all are also aware of is that safety is a big concern among these corrections officers based on the number of incidents recently, some of which has resulted in corrections officers being injured.

To address that situation lawmakers approved $3.5 million to replace yard pens at the East Arkansas, Tucker Maximum Security, Cummins and Varner units.

Furthermore, measures taken a couple of months ago include 400 more isolation cells, called “restrictive housing”, the creation of “controlled access points inside the entrances to general population barracks”, and increased surveillance at prison entrances.

While we’re all concerned about the safety of these corrections officers, as we should be, there has been some criticism over these necessary safety measures from no other than the liberal Sen. Joyce Elliott, DLittle Rock, who is of the opinion what is being put in place is “just more punishment”.

We would think that Elliott would focus her attention to the safety of these officers who obviously are doing a job neither she or most anyone else would even think about taking based on the pay as well as safety issues.

What Elliott seems to ignore is the fact that these prisons are filled to capacity with some very dangerous criminals and in many cases they would not hesitate to cause harm to other inmates or especially a corrections officer.

What lawmakers and corrections officials are now doing to deal with some very serious issues is certainly a positive step in the right direction.