The Saline County Intergovernmental Council met Monday to discuss the mounting costs associated with the county’s detention center and the impending jail expansion.
Led by County Judge Matt Brumley, the intergovernmental council is a joint body of the county municipalities.
Saline County Sheriff Rodney Wright, Benton Mayor Tom Farmer and Police Chief Scotty Hodges, Bryant Mayor Allen Scott and Bauxite Mayor Eddie Jones were all in attendance.
Wright revealed the county hopes to break ground on the jail expansion sometime in June. The project will be opened up for bid today and Wright said he expects the bidding process to close on May 21. Brumley said the county is about a year away from being able to take in its first prisoner with the jail expansion.
According to Wright, the expansion will add 84 beds to the Saline County Detention Center. He said those 84 beds will hopefully be used for county inmates being incarcerated on misdemeanor charges. Wright said in his mind, when they aren’t able to jail people for misdemeanors, it dilutes the communities.
He referenced public intoxication charges, disorderly conduct charges, theft charges and failure to appear arrestees who the county isn not able to incarcerate due to jail overcrowding.
The overcrowding of jails and prisons is a statewide issue, according to county and state officials. The Saline County Detention Center houses several state and federal inmates due to the overcrowding of state prisons.
Wright said currently, the county has around 40 federal prisoners and doesn’t expect that number to increase with the jail expansion.
He added that they keep on average 60 to 65 state inmates that are waiting for bed space in state prisons. Wright said that on average, the county jail housed about 239 inmates a day, by standards they are supposed to have 234 inmates.
“That’s how full we were in 2022,” said Wright.
Brumley acknowledged the financial strain on the county, stating that fully funding the jail was costly.
He emphasized the importance of justice but also stressed the need to assess the available resources and budget constraints realistically.
Brumley said he was encouraged that everyone in the room was on the same page.
Brumley also pointed out that the county had about 10,000 more prisoner days in 2022 than in 2021.
