Arkansas's Justice Reinvestment Approach:

Overview

rkansas’s criminal justice system faces serious

challenges. As a result of a 21-percent growth

in the state’s prison population between 2012

and 2015—the highest increase in the nation

during that period—Arkansas’s prisons are now

at capacity, and county resources are strained due

to a backlog of people who are held in jail while

awaiting transfer to prison after sentencing.

Without action, the state’s prison population is

projected to increase by nearly 20 percent by 2023.

[See Figure 1]

To address these issues, in March 2017, Arkansas

policymakers passed Act 423, which contains

policies designed to make better use of state and

local resources in three key ways. First, it limits

the period of incarceration for people sanctioned

for low-level violations of the terms of their

supervision. Second, it requires training for law

enforcement ofcers in how to respond to people

experiencing a mental health crisis. Third, it creates

local crisis stabilization units that enable law

enforcement ofcers to divert people with mental

illnesses who commit low-level offenses away from

county jails to receive mental health treatment in

the community. By implementing these policies,

the state estimates it will avert hundreds of millions

of dollars in prison construction and operating

costs and will be able to reinvest savings in areas

critical to improving outcomes for people on

supervision and increasing public safety. Act 423

is expected to reduce the projected growth in the

prison population by nearly 10 percent. This gure

represents more than 1,650 fewer people in prison

by FY2023, resulting in projected averted costs of

more than $288 million.

MAY 2017

Enhancing Local Mental Health Services

for People in the Criminal Justice System

Arkansas’s Justice Reinvestment Approach:

SUMMARY

FIGURE 1. PROJECTED IMPACT OF ACT 423 ON ARKANSAS’S PRISON POPULATION

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

25,000

22,000

19,000

16,000

13,000

10,000

15,564

14,832

17,973

21,345

19,694

10% projected increase

with policy options

FY2016–FY2023

21% increase

FY2012–FY2016

19% projected increase

FY2016–FY2023

$99M

in averted

construction costs

$189.5M

in averted

operating costs

1,650

fewer people in

prison than

projected FY2023

population

2 Arkansas’s Justice Reinvestment Approach

Summary of the Justice Reinvestment Process

CHALLENGES

Arkansas’s prisons are now at capacity, in large

part due to a signicant increase in the number

of people revoked to prison from probation and

parole supervision. Between 2012 and 2015,

parole revocations increased 251 percent, from

1,668 to 5,862 revocations per year.

As a result

of the growing number of revocations, the prison

population is expected to increase by 19 percent

between FY2016 and FY2023.

If nothing is done to

address this growth, the state will be forced to spend

an additional $653 million in construction and

operating costs by 2023 in order to accommodate

anticipated prison population growth.

FINDINGS

In April 2015, the Arkansas legislature enacted Act

895, which established the bipartisan Legislative

Criminal Justice Oversight and Behavioral Health

Treatment Task Forces comprising designees

from all three branches of government and state

and local criminal justice and behavioral health

system stakeholders. At the request of state leaders

in Arkansas, the U.S. Department of Justice’s

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and The Pew

Charitable Trusts (Pew) asked The Council of State

Governments (CSG) Justice Center to provide

intensive technical assistance using a justice

reinvestment approach. Under the direction of the

task forces, CSG Justice Center staff conducted

a comprehensive analysis of data collected from

various state agencies and departments. Several key

ndings emerged as a result of this analysis:

■ From 2012 to 2015, Arkansas had the fastest

growing prison population in the nation, and

it is projected to continue to rise. The state’s

incarceration rate also increased substantially over

this time and is well above the national average.

■ Arkansas spends half a billion dollars on

corrections annually, and prison is among the

costliest of the state’s sentencing options at $63

per person per day.

■ The number of people revoked to prison

for technical violations of their supervision

increased from 38 percent of admissions in

2012 to more than two-thirds of admissions in

2015, which cost the state close to $16 million—

nearly 5 percent of Arkansas Department of

Correction’s (ADC) total budget.

■ Supervision ofcers are overwhelmed by large

caseloads that prevent them from providing

effective supervision.

SOLUTIONS

Sponsored by Senator Jeremy Hutchinson and

Representatives Clarke Tucker and Matthew

Shepherd, Act 423 codies the justice reinvestment

policy framework developed by the task forces.

Act 423 passed the Arkansas Senate by a vote

of 27 to 4 and passed the Arkansas House by a

vote of 86 to 1. To support implementation of the

justice reinvestment legislation, Governor Asa

Hutchinson included in his proposed budget (1)

$5 million for the establishment and operation

of crisis stabilization units, (2) funding for the

Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy

(ALETA) and related agencies to train ofcers

in crisis intervention techniques for people with

mental illnesses, and (3) permanent funding for

additional supervision ofcers and treatment staff

for Arkansas Community Correction (ACC).

Because the policies contained in Act 423 are not

expected to alleviate all of the projected growth

in the state’s prison population, the Legislative

Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force also

urged the Sentencing Commission to revise the

current sentencing standards to discourage the

use of prison—one of the state’s most expensive

sanctions—for people convicted of low-level offenses.

“We have neglected the mental health challenges in our nation for too long. rough the

creation of these crisis stabilization units, this bill will provide much-needed assistance

to those suering from mental illnesses, and also provide relief to our law enforcement

ocers who so often have to deal with incidents involving those who need help rather

than detention.”

— Gov er nor AsA HutcHinson

Arkansas’s Justice Reinvestment Approach 3

Summary of Act 423

“is act is an important step toward

responsibly managing the growth in

our incarcerated population and will

help Arkansas’s public safety system

be more eective and e cient in the

use of our resources while providing

meaningful services to people in need and holding

those who violate the law accountable.”

—Senator Jeremy HutcHinSon

Reﬁne certain sanctioning protocols for people

on probation and parole.

■ Act 423 limits the period of incarceration for

people sanctioned for violations of the terms

of their supervision. Sanctions for people who

commit technical violations may be up to 90 days

of incarceration. Sanctions for serious violations,

including nonviolent, non-sex misdemeanors,

may include incarceration for 180 days. ACC

has the authority to impose these sanctions

administratively.

■ The act allows for a maximum of six periods

of incarceration in either county jail or an ACC

residential facility as an intermediate sanction

prior to full revocation to prison. This includes

a maximum of two sanctions of 90 or 180 days,

depending on the seriousness of the violation.

■ In cases where either ACC or the prosecuting

attorney can prove to the court having jurisdiction

that a person is a threat to the community, the

person is subject to full revocation.

Create and provide crisis intervention team

training for police ocers and sheris’ deputies

to safely and eectively deal with people who

are experiencing a mental health crisis.

■ Law enforcement ofcer cadets will receive 16

hours of crisis intervention training (CIT) as part

of academy training and certication.

■ Eight-hour training courses will be available for

current ofcers.

■ In law enforcement agencies that employ 10

ofcers or more, one ofcer will be required

to receive a more intensive 40-hour training to

become a local/regional expert in CIT and to

assist in training other ofcers and stakeholders.

Establish a legal framework for the design,

operation, and regulation of regional crisis

stabilization units (CSUs).

■ CIT-trained ofcers can take people who are

experiencing a mental health crisis to these facilities

to connect them to appropriate treatment. These

facilities will serve people who are arrested for

nonviolent offenses.

Expand eligibility for placement in ACC’s

residential facilities and increase ﬂexibility

related to releases.

■ The list of so-called “target offenses” will be

expanded.

Eligibility for ACC’s residential facilities

will be expanded to include people sentenced to up

to six years (previously four years) and will allow

people with sentences of three years or less to be

eligible for parole at 180 days (previously 270 days).

Develop ACC stang and caseload guidelines.

■ Act 423 includes the requirement that ACC develop

internal stafng and caseload guidelines that are

based on supervisees’ assessed risk of reoffending,

in accordance with evidence-based practices.

Assist counties in the coordination and

administration of criminal justice at the local level.

■ Act 423 encourages counties to create local criminal

justice coordinating committees to routinely discuss

the administration of criminal justice services in the

community and to adopt tools that screen for risk

of reoffending, mental illnesses, and substance use

disorders among people being booked into jail.

Improve data collection.

■ The Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC)

will develop a database for county jails and state

criminal justice agencies to share information

related to people’s risk of reoffending and

behavioral health needs, among other subjects.

“Right now, law enforcement must

take someone who’s experiencing a

mental health crisis to jail. Crisis

stabilization units will dramatically

increase the chances of a person’s

recovery by providing treatment and

will free up county jail space for people who pose a

threat to public safety.”

—SebaStian county SHeriff bill Hollenbeck

This project was supported by Grant No.

2013-ZB-BX-K002 awarded by the Bureau of Justice

Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a

component of the Ofce of Justice Programs, which

also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the

National Institute of Justice, the Ofce of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Ofce for

Victims of Crime, and the SMART Ofce. Points of

view or opinions in this document are those of the

author and do not necessarily represent the ofcial

position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

To learn more about the Bureau of Justice Assistance,

please visit bja.gov.

Research and analysis described in this report has

been funded in part by the The Pew Charitable Trusts

public safety performance project. Launched in 2006,

Pew’s public safety performance project seeks to help

states advance scally sound, data-driven policies and

practices in sentencing and corrections that protect

public safety, hold offenders accountable, and control

corrections costs. To learn more about the project,

please visit pewtrusts.org/publicsafety.

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice

Center is a national nonprot organization that

serves policymakers at the local, state, and federal

levels from all branches of government. The CSG

Justice Center provides practical, nonpartisan,

research-driven strategies and tools to increase public

safety and strengthen communities. Points of view,

recommendations, or ndings stated in this document

are those of the authors and do not necessarily reect

the ofcial position or policies of The Pew Charitable

Trusts, The Council of State Governments Justice

Center, or The Council of State Governments’ members.

For additional information about Justice Reinvestment

in Arkansas, please visit csgjusticecenter.org/jr/ar.

Endnotes

1. E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2013,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, https://www.

bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf; “Prisoners in 2015,” https://www.bjs.gov/index.

cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5869. Arkansas policy requires that if sufﬁcient space is not

available in state prison facilities, people sentenced to prison for felony offenses

are held in county jails until a prison bed is available. Referred to as the “county

jail backlog,” the number of people held in county jails awaiting placement in the

Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) has ﬂuctuated in recent years. In FY2014,

the county jail backlog averaged 2,164 people per day. That number grew to 2,396 in

FY2015 before dropping to a daily average of 1,569 in FY2016.

2. 2016 Arkansas Prison Projections and Historical Corrections Trends—JFA

Associates http://adc.arkansas.gov/images/uploads/2016_Arkansas_Prison_

Projections_and_Historical_Corrections_Trends.pdf.

3. Arkansas Parole Board, “The Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2014–

2015,” http://paroleboard. arkansas.gov/Resources/Documents/

Publications/2014ParoleBoardAnnualReport.pdf.

4. “Justice Reinvestment in Arkansas: Policy Options and Projected Impacts” slide

9. August 25, 2016. The Council of State Governments Justice Center. https://

csgjusticecenter.org/jr/arkansas/publications/justice-reinvestment-in-arkansas-

policy-options-and-projected-impacts/.

5. E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2013,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, https://www.

bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf; “Prisoners in 2015,” https://www.bjs.gov/index.

cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5869.

6. Average cost for prison beds operated by the ADC was $63 per day in 2015. Average

cost for beds in residential treatment and sanctioning facilities operated by

Arkansas Community Correction (ACC) was $65 per day in 2015, but these facilities

provide intensive treatment and services, hence the increased cost. Given the

shorter term of detention in an ACC bed coupled with treatment and programming,

placement into an ACC bed is much more cost-effective than a stay in prison.

7. ACC Annual Report FY2015; North Carolina DPS, Legislative Report on Probation

and Parole Caseloads, March 2015.

8. Act 423 authorizes ACC to impose sanctions administratively, meaning that no court

order or ruling is required for the sanctions to be imposed on a person under ACC’s

jurisdiction. However, a person facing such sanctions retains the right to elect to

have the sanctions heard in court.

9. In order to revoke someone for a technical violation or a serious conditions violation

who has not otherwise received at least two intermediate sanctions of either 90

or 180 days, Arkansas Community Correction or the prosecuting attorney must ﬁle

a petition with the court that has jurisdiction and prove by preponderance of the

evidence that the defendant is engaging in or has engaged in behavior that poses a

threat to the community (Act 423, Section 18).

10. “Target offenses” are those offenses for which a person may be placed into a

residential facility operated by ACC. These are typically nonviolent felony offenses.

LOOKING AHEAD

Act 423 provides for the creation of an oversight

body to monitor and direct the implementation of

criminal justice initiatives for the next two years.

This 17-member body, which includes legislators

and criminal justice stakeholders, among others, will

receive data and reports from the state’s correctional

agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that the

legislation achieves intended outcomes.

Some policy recommendations included in the nal

report of the Legislative Criminal Justice Oversight

Task Force are being implemented through

administrative rule promulgated by the Arkansas

Board of Correction, Arkansas Parole Board, and

other agencies. Any delays in adopting administrative

rules or revisions to the rules language will have an

impact on the projected reductions of the prison

population and may prevent Arkansas from realizing

the full projected cost savings of $288 million.

To en hance t he state’s abi lity to i mplement Act

423, CSG Justice Center staff are working closely

with ofcials from across the state’s criminal

justice system to assist in developing administrative

rules and implementing policy. The state has

the opportunity to request funding from BJA to

support additional capacity-building efforts, such as

workforce training, IT support, and ongoing quality-

assurance efforts.

“Act 423 is the result of a

dedicated and thorough review

of our criminal justice system

and the challenges it faces.

With the input and assistance

of legislators, stakeholders, and

advocates throughout Arkansas,

policies, programs, and services can be put in place

that make better use of taxpayer dollars, provide

treatment to those in need, and enhance public

safety all at the same time.”

— repreSentative clarke tucker