Arkansas Department of Corrections director Larry Norris has asked the Board of Corrections to approve a plan to build a $160 million prison with more than 2,000 beds to help solve an overcrowding problem.
If directors approve the plan, the board will ask the 2009 Legislature to finance the project.
Norris said the department has not yet decided how to pay for the project or where it would be built. He is expected to present the board with options for funding at its July meeting.
If lawmakers approves the new prison, it could be completed by August 2014, according to Norris. Using inmate labor would take two years longer but save $7 million.
The state’s prison population was more than 14,700 last week, up 37% from June 1998. With fewer than 13,700 prison beds available, more than 1,000 state prisoners must be held in county lockups until space is available.
Norris also proposed a new $5.4 million facility to house 300 so-called trusties — inmates who are given authority to control other inmates — at the main state prison.
