Officials, inmates praise correction center during dedication
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65203/
Arkansas Department of Community Correction Director David Guntharp recalled receiving a call about three years ago from Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton indicating that there was an old county jail available.
Guntharp stood in front of that old building in Fayetteville on Wednesday, helping to dedicate its transformation into the state’s fifth community correction center.
“ It’s a very exciting occasion, ” he told a crowd gathered in front of the building on the east side of College Avenue.
The 172-bed center will be one of two centers in the state that serve women. The other one, in Pine Bluff, has almost twice as many beds. Centers in Texarkana, Osceola and Little Rock are for men.
Women from Northwest Arkansas will be given priority to occupy the Fayetteville center so they can be close to their families for visits and support. This will also cut down on transport time and fuel costs from an operational standpoint. Women who have significant health problems or who are pregnant will still go to the center in Pine Bluff, officials said Wednesday. The centers are for nonviolent offenders, often with drug offenses, and they focus on behavior modification. They provide an alternative to traditional prison sentences.
Fayetteville center Women receive four hours of counseling a day and work at different jobs within the center in Fayetteville. This is what is termed a “ therapeutic community. ” They also go through different phases, including the last one to prepare them to re-enter society. Steven Russell, chief security officer, talked about the privileges residents can receive for good behavior. “ It’s not easy for them to advance in the program, ” he said. Guntharp told the crowd during the dedication that the growing female jail population creates more space needs. “ We have approximately 50 female residents in there now, ” he said of the Fayetteville center. During a tour of the building, Russell said there will be six more women arriving this week and 12 next week. The center will employ 76.
Transformation Guntharp commended Hunton for giving the department the opportunity to use the former jail and also credited John Gibson, county administrator, and Ron Wood, county building and grounds supervisor.
“ When you start transforming an old facility, it really becomes a nightmare if you don’t understand the background and history, ” Guntharp said.
Hunton said the center’s opening is an example of the county working well with the state on a project, likening it to the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences opening a satellite campus in the former Washington Regional Medical Center building in Fayetteville.
The judge said that when he was in the Arkansas Legislature in the early 1990 s, he visited one of his son’s high school buddies who was staying in the then male Pine Bluff center because of problems with drugs. He was far away from any family contacts, and offenders being closer to their families is a key part of the reason for locating a community correction center in Northwest Arkansas. “ You don’t forget something like this when you have the chance to make a difference, ” he said, referring to his bringing up the idea of the former jail for the community correction center. “ This is an excellent use of this facility, ” he said. “ I cannot think of a better thing we could have done with the taxpayers’ investment than what we are doing with this facility. ”
Funding Guntharp recognized state Sen. Sue Madison, DFayetteville, for helping to keep operating expenses funded for the facility to keep the project alive until the renovation and staffing were funded last year. He thanked the Legislature for providing about $ 700, 000 last session to renovate the facility, which was used in the past two years only as a temporary shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Renovations started in July. Board of Correction Chairman Benny Magness said the opening of the facility in Fayetteville completed a 14-year journey for the department, which started out as the Department of Community Punishment in 1993 and became the Department of Community Correction in 2001. He, too, commended the local delegation for continuing to secure the operating funds until the renovation funds were approved by the Legislature last session.
Breaking the cycle Magness said the center works for people beginning to break the cycle of drug addiction and have productive lives. “ This center will make a difference in people’s lives, ” he said. “ This center will benefit the citizens of Arkansas. This center will improve the effectiveness of the judicial system. ”
Inmates at the center undergo four hours of counseling each day. Programs include parenting classes and anger management. Offenders work in kitchen, laundry or other parts of the facility another four hours a day.
“ I’m glad to be here, ” said Kimberly Green, who is from Pope County.
She and other offenders at the center praised the counseling programs.
“ It’s helped me 100 percent, ” said offender Eva Klein of Fayetteville, who is expected to get out in little more than a month.
She, too, lauded the counseling at the center.
“ I won’t come back, ” she said. “ It’s turned my life around. ”