Washington County cancels lease with state for Women’s Community Correctional Center

Christina Randall
·2 min read

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Washington County plans to cancel the lease with the state for the Women’s Community Correctional Center.

The Women’s Community Correctional Center is run by the state and used for inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses.

“When we came into office of course we are trying to assess our criminal justice system and the challenges we are having in this,” said Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins.

The challenge Deakins says the county is facing is jail overcrowding. He says deciding to cancel the lease was not easy.

“However, here is the reality I’m faced with: we have people, officers and detainees who are suffering in an overcrowded jail right now. We have a public who is suffering from a lapse in criminal justice,” said Deakins.

The building currently being used as the center used to be the Washington County Jail until 2008. Deakins wants to relieve some of the jail overcrowding by using the building to house them.

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“That extra space is very valuable to us. Whether or not we use it or we come to a new agreement with the state, it’s critical for us and unfortunately I found this step was absolutely necessary,” said Deakins.

First, the county will need to assess the building.

“When we departed that facility back in 2007 it had a 240-bed capacity. We’re not sure where that stands today,” said Deakins.

Deakins says he is open to discussions with the state on how the building can mutually benefit both the county and the state.

“Either we need to be adequately paid for that facility or we are going to use it as extra jail bed space to relieve some of the suffering we are having at our Washington County Detention Center,” said Deakins.

Deakins says it’s critical to get the backlogged state inmates out of the county jail. He hopes being able to transfer those inmates to the old jail will be a step in the right direction.

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