Prison board will vote Friday on Arkansas prison land purchase as residents stay angry

A member of the audience at a town hall in Charleston, Arkansas, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, holds a sign questioning the lack of transparency around the state's purchase of 815 acres near the town for a planned prison. (Photo by Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)

Despite public outcry about a lack of transparency, the Arkansas Board of Corrections will vote Friday morning on the state's $2.95 million purchase of 815 acres in Franklin County for a prison.

Board Chairman Benny Magness confirmed the board's meeting agenda during a town hall Thursday night in Charleston, where residents defiantly opposed locating a prison in their community.

"As chairman I'm calling the vote tomorrow, and I'm not going to be a part anymore of being put in a position to defend ourselves that we're stalling the building of a 3,000-bed prison," Magness told reporters following the meeting.

State officials for years have pursued construction of a new prison to alleviate overcrowding in existing facilities and county jails. The state spends roughly $30 million a year to house about 3,000 inmates in county facilities, according to the governor's office . More prison beds also likely will be needed in the future due to the Protect Arkansas Act . Backed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the 2023 law overhauls the state's parole system and eliminates the possibility of parole for the most serious offenders.

"The process we started in '22 was not getting the results we needed, so they, and I say they, the governor's office, chose to do this process," Magness told reporters.

Hundreds of local residents seeking answers about the state's decision to purchase land for the prison in the Vesta community north of Charleston packed the local middle school's gymnasium Thursday evening.

Community members as well as state and local officials said they were not involved in the decision-making process and were blindsided by the governor's formal announcement about the purchase last Thursday.

The governor's office touted the prison as an investment in public safety and economic development. The prison is expected to create several hundred construction jobs and employ 800 once it's operational, according to a press release

A few hours prior to the town hall, Corrections Secretary Lindsay Wallace emailed the media letters from the mayors of Calico Rock citing the positive aspects of having prisons in their communities.

Security and safety, especially for their children and grandchildren, are major concerns for Jo Stubblefield and her son and daughter-in-law, Brandan and Rosa Cummings, who live on property that shares a fence line with the proposed prison site. Jo Stubblefield, whose husband is a cousin of Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, told the Advocate they "were all very upset, very upset" about the proposed prison site.

The trio questioned how the state could pay for and staff a new prison when other local businesses are struggling to find employees.

"They can't even pave the roads around here, yet you can buy a bunch of land without nobody knowing? I mean that just blows my mind," Brendan Cummings said.

Rosa Cummings said a new prison isn't needed and that releasing nonviolent criminals, like people who've been arrested for drugs, would free up bed space. While she hoped that state officials would listen to the community's concerns Thursday, she said it wasn't likely.

"I mean it's the government. We don't feel too confident obviously, that's why we heard about it just the other day," she said.

State legislators and members of the Department of Corrections and Board of Corrections attended the town hall Thursday. Local residents submitted questions ahead of time that were read by a moderator, including questions about costs and why the community wasn't notified sooner.

Former Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri said the land purchase was not made public sooner because of concerns over a bidding war. Profiri was hired as a senior adviser to the governor after the prison board him in January.

"Ultimately what we were looking at was to make sure that the price of the land didn't escalate and that we were good stewards of the taxpayer dollars to make sure that we didn't pay more than the land was worth," he said.

Profiri said the cost of the prison will depend on what design is ultimately selected, but he noted $330 million has been set aside by the Legislature and there's another $75 million in reserves. Officials said they looked at a number of sites over several months. Profiri said they chose to purchase the Franklin County property about three months ago.

Magness said he learned about the decision about two weeks ago, while state lawmakers like Rep. John Eubanks, R- Subiaco, and Stubblefield said they received word just a few days prior to last week's formal announcement.

Stubblefield criticized the lack of transparency and said he was going to explore pursuing legal action because he believed officials broke state law by not notifying the public sooner. Wallace said lawyers she spoke with who reviewed the statute in question believed it didn't apply to the Department of Corrections.

While community members were not allowed to ask questions Thursday night or bring signs, attendees made their opinions known by cheering or booing, and shouting phrases like "we don't want it," 'we don't consent," "disrespect" and "liar."

The town hall concluded after about an hour and a half, and Jo Stubblefield left unsatisfied with state officials' responses.

"I feel like the governor's office didn't answer any questions they were asked," she said.

The Board of Corrections' special meeting on Zoom is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Friday. The agenda includes hiring a public information officer and voting on the Franklin County land.