Arkansas Governor Seeks $7.4 Million for 200 Additional Prison Beds

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is currently seeking $7.4 million in funding from the state to open 200 additional prison beds to ease the backlog of inmates being housed at local jails.

Hutchinson told the Arkansas State Sheriffs Association that he would ask lawmakers to approve of funding in about 18 months for the Pine Bluff Prison facility. “I’m asking for your patience and your support and to recognize that there is hope around the corner,” Hutchinson said in a statement.

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Nebraska Mulls New Prison Construction & Alternatives

LINCOLN, Neb. — Consultants hired by the state of Nebraska to tackle the growing correctional overcrowding problem have delivered a new master plan that relies heavily on construction and expansion.

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Alabama Poised to Establish Prison Reform Task Force

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama state senators hope their recent approval of a new task force will help determine the cause of the state’s growing prison overcrowding problem, and offer potential solutions. The resolution to develop the task force was sponsored by Sen. Cam Ward R-Alabaster, and, if also passed by the House, will create a 26-member group referred to as the Prison Reform Task Force.

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Shipping Containers May House Prisoners

ADELAIDE, South Australia — South Australia has proposed housing prison inmates in shipping containers as a cheap way to ease prison overcrowding.
 
Correctional Services Minister Tom Koutsantonis introduced a six-cell unit built from shipping containers, to be used for a trial period, at the Cadell Training Centre outside Adelaide, saying the cells could allow the government to erect prison housing in half the time as traditional cells and save up to 40 percent in construction costs.
 
Construction time on the cells is only

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Iowa Addresses Prison Overcrowding

DES MOINES — Iowa prisons are overcrowded, but a construction program and coordination with the Board of Parole should reduce overcrowding, Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin told lawmakers Wednesday.
 
The prison population is 23 percent over capacity, Baldwin told the Transportation, Infrastructures and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee.
 
Iowa’s nine prisons have a capacity of 7,209 but currently house 8,883 inmates, Baldwin said, an increase from 8,200 a year ago.

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