Why Is Arkansas Sending Its Prisoners to Texas?

As it has done before, Arkansas is relying on Texas to house an overflow of state prisoners — but officials say they expect other, more innovative approaches to prison overcrowding to have a more long-term impact than shuttling inmates across state lines. In March, Arkansas and Bowie County, Texas, entered into a contract that allows Arkansas to place up to 288 male inmates in Bowie County Correction Center in Texarkana, Texas, just across the state line from Texarkana, Ark. As of Friday, 286 Arkansas prisoners, all close to being paroled, were housed at the facility. Transferring prisoners to Texas has freed up beds in state prisons and allowed the DOC to reduce the backlog of state inmates in county jails waiting for space to become available in state prisons. When the transfers began March 25, the state had 2,274 male inmates in county jails; by Friday, it had 2,165.

Arkansas is paying Bowie County $38.42 per inmate per day under the contract, which expires Dec. 31. The Legislature approved a request from Gov. Asa Hutchinson to use $2.65 million in rainy-day funds to pay for the contract.

“We needed a quick solution,” said Cathy Frye, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Correction.