Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – June 3, 2024 – The Craighead County Detention Center has been in its current location for about 35 years.
A jail ages 3-4 times faster than any other type of building. The building may be about 35 years old, but because of its usage, it’s more like 100 years old. Because that concrete and steel never gets a break. Neither does the plumbing. Or the HVAC. Everything is always running, all the time, because a detention center is fully functional 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And it’s full of inmates. Too many inmates, really. When the jail was built, it was designed to hold 160 inmates. Now, it holds 390. The population of the county has more than doubled since the jail opened. So, yes, there’s a crime problem…but there’s also a population problem.
Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd has his office at the CCDC. He’s in the facility day in and day out. And he has strong concerns about a situation that he’s seen coming for a long time.
“We can’t keep going the way we’re going,” he said. “Overcrowding issues and the growth of the population are things that we have to react to. Right now, we can hold about 390 inmates. I’ve been averaging over 400 for quite some time. And the state says you can’t be overcrowded. We have to stay in compliance.”
Boyd shares an almost daily decision he has to make: “Who do we release early to make room for someone worse coming in? That’s a juggling act that I don’t want to be responsible for.”
“I’m in contact with our district judges on a regular basis…they’re having to ask how much space we have as to who they can sentence to jail. It may be where a judge says, ‘this guy should serve 10 days in jail, but I’m just going to give him 5 days’ because of the situation in housing.”
And it’s getting worse.
Jails were designed to hold local, misdemeanor criminals. A person charged with a felony would go through the system and then straight out to the Department of Corrections. Boyd says that doesn’t happen anymore.
“Today, in Arkansas, we have 2,300 state inmates [felons] in local jails. They should be in the Department of Corrections. But there’s no space for them there either, and local jails are having to house them. We don’t hardly hold any misdemeanors anymore because we have so many felons in jail. And the state mandates that I hold a felon. I’m not mandated to hold a misdemeanor.”
Boyd met with the Craighead County Quorum Court this week. He presented some initial broad strokes and will be on the agenda again for (at least) the next meeting on June 10 to further discuss the details of a solution: putting a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot. It would sunset after 6 to 8 years. And in that time, the county should be able to generate roughly $95 million dollars.
The cost of constructing a new jail is based on the number of beds needed. In terms of today’s dollars and construction costs, that turns out to be an average of $140,000 per bed.
Throwing some money toward another in a series of expansions is just kicking the can down the road. “I’m trying to look at what Craighead County is going to need in the next 30 years. Doing a 100-bed expansion is not going to solve this problem. In the next 5 years, we’ll be having this conversation again,” Boyd said.
Boyd believes a half-cent sales tax will bring in the money quicker. “Everyone that comes to Jonesboro and Craighead County will help pay for this project. If we had a millage increase, only landowners in Craighead County are going to pay for that. And I don’t think that’s fair. I think a sales tax is more fair than a millage increase,” he said.
“I get it. We’re taxed out. Groceries are too high, the cable bill is too high. I think I pay plenty of taxes. But I know the situation that Craighead County is in, and I know that the only option that we have to start getting a handle on our crime problem and our overcrowding problem is to do it with a sales tax initiative. The best thing that I can hope for is that our voters get educated on this topic, so they can see what the need is.”
With a special tax, the funds would be earmarked for “jail construction” so that money is not held in a general county fund. “Everyone will know what that tax is for, how long they’re going to pay it, and why it’s needed. It’ll be a decision for the voters to make, and I’ll accept that decision.”
The Quorum Court has the power to move this to a ballot, or not. So, the conversation is really just beginning.