In response to a request for a probe of the site decision, a co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Performance Review Committee announced that the body will host a hearing to provide the public a chance to voice their opinions about the proposed Franklin County prison.
Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, and Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, his fellow co-chair, said they had ruled out genuinely looking into the matter.
After more than 1,200 people signed an online petition in favor of a probe, plans for the still-unscheduled hearing were made.
We don’t conduct investigations. According to Cozart, that would have to be the Attorney General (AG) or someone similar. As long as they don’t go too far outside the bounds, we’ll let them in and have a conversation. We’ll listen to their opinions.
According to the petition, the highly secret jail project reflects government overreach at the highest levels, disregards local governance and the most fundamental human rights, and threatens to upend the lives of at least 605 Arkansan families who reside close to the site.
The request, dated July 23, urged the committee to look into how the Franklin County location was chosen. The prison’s opponents contend that the 815-acre property close to Charleston cannot accommodate the 3,000-bed facility that Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has in mind.
Members of the state Board of Corrections, government leaders, and the local community were all caught off guard when the governor revealed the prison location late last year.
Locals have been irritated by state officials’ lack of involvement both before and after the site selection. In February, the neighboring town of Ozark approved a resolution rejecting the prison, stating that it would severely strain the city’s infrastructure and budget.
In a letter to lawmakers last month, Lee Watson, a member of the Board of Corrections, stated that although he was well aware of the state’s need for a new jail, he had not seen any proof that such a huge facility was required to relieve congestion.
During this year’s legislative session, the jail caused division among Republicans in the Senate; a group of senators delayed a $750 million appropriations package for the prison’s construction five times. When the Legislature adjourned in May, the bill died on the Senate floor.
We kept hearing that President Pro Tem [Bart Hester] didn’t want to hold hearings prior to the start of the session because there would be plenty of time to look into it, ask questions, and provide testimony. Adam Watson, a vocal opponent of the prison and one of the petition drafters, stated that this did not occur. We were excluded from all discussions and votes. Before voting, Joint Budget declined to accept any comments.
Watson was both grateful and frustrated when the Advocate informed him that Cozart had stated that the Joint Performance Review Committee would have a hearing but not conduct an investigation.
I’m still attempting to strike a balance between being grateful for the chance to talk to them and Watson stated, “I think that’s really helpful, but I’m disappointed that they’re saying that they’re not able to go further than that, for whatever reason.” After not being heard at all, he said it was a positive step.
He drew attention to the fact that the Bureau of Legislative Research’s website clearly states that the committee is authorized to conduct investigations.
“I believe this falls within their purview,” he said.
According to the website, this committee investigates certain issues with state government administration as they may be brought to the committee’s attention and randomly and periodically evaluates the effectiveness of particular government programs and agencies.
According to the website, the committee also holds hearings on public complaints and opinions about how the state government is run and acts as a platform for residents to voice their grievances and recommendations.
The petition requests that the committee look into:
- The prison site selection process
- Whether any standards, rules or best practices were ignored when selecting the site
- Whether any legal or ethical guidelines were violated during the selection processes for the contractors working the project
- Whether the state is or was violating state spending laws by starting work on the prison project without sufficient funding
The Department of Corrections personnel is criticized in the request for letting inexperienced state workers take the lead in the site selection process rather than depending on the professional analysis of Vanir Construction Management.
The petition claims that as a result, crucial due diligence was omitted, important infrastructural and environmental issues were disregarded, and a seriously defective site was selected, increasing the estimated costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Vanir estimated the initial cost of a 3,000-bed jail at $825 million in a March letter to the correctional department, while comparable prisons in other states have cost more than $1 billion.
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