Arkansas will add more prison beds despite staffing shortage

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ administration has taken action to reduce overcrowding at state prisons by adding hundreds of new beds, going over the heads of corrections officials who had said staffing shortages would make it unsafe to add so many new prisoners all at once.

The extra space is needed, according to Sanders and Attorney General Tim Griffin, because of an expected increase in the inmate population stemming from the Protect Arkansas Act, which will require offenders to serve most, if not all, of their sentences. Beginning Jan. 1, those convicted of 18 of the most violent felonies in the state code, such as murder, will have to serve 100 percent of their sentences.

Sanders spokesperson Alexa Henning said the decision to add the prison beds came after the state’s Board of Corrections agreed to add 124 beds at the Barbara Ester Unit in Pine Bluff — but rejected adding 368 more beds at two other prisons that had been requested by Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri.

Nearly 1,900 inmates are being housed in county jails across the state due to a lack of capacity in state lockups, according to the Department of Corrections.

“It’s unfortunate the Board of Corrections did not listen to Secretary Profiri about the urgency of this matter and continues to play politics with the safety and security of Arkansans,” Henning said. “The Secretary of Corrections has authority to open certain bed space and he will be doing so.”

Profiri on Nov. 6 asked the board to open 622 beds at state prisons, but the board only approved 130. Sixty of those beds would be at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern and 70 at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock.

During Friday’s meeting, Profiri asked the board to approve adding the 492 beds to the Ester Unit, the McPherson Unit located in Newport, and the Maximum Security Unit in Jefferson County.

Instead, the board agreed only to add beds at the Ester Unit.

Board members said Friday they have been reluctant to add the requested beds all at the same time because of the high number of staffing vacancies at the facilities, and concerns about overcrowding and safety for staff and inmates.

“The safety of the people of Arkansas is our number one priority,” Board Chairman Benny Magness said during Friday’s meeting. “Second is the safety of staff, and third is the safety of inmates. The public isn’t as conscious of those last two, but we need to be.”

Profiri disagreed, saying, “We have the staffing now.”

That drew a strong response from Magness and board member Whitney Gass, both of whom asked Profiri why he hadn’t previously given them that assurance. Profiri said “the board never asked.”

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Henning said the new beds at McPherson would be added after construction work is done. She did not indicate when the new beds would be added to the Maximum Security Unit.

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Prison time for all 5 defendants in fire bombing case

LITTLE ROCK — All five members of a group responsible for the fire bombings of multiple police vehicles in Little Rock and North Little Rock will spend time in prison for their crimes.

Last week, Chief United States District Court Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. sentenced the final four defendants in a case dating back to August and September 2020, when the group, by its own words, resolved to “attack the institution of the American police structure” and destroyed property at five different police stations, which escalated to the use of incendiary weapons.

The leader of the group, Mujera Benjamin Lung’aho, received a five-anda- half year sentence for his conduct, which involved the use of Molotov cocktails to burn police cars. The five defendants include:

• Lung’aho, 33, of North Little Rock.

• Brittany Jeffrey, 34, of Little Rock.

• Emily Nowlin, 30, of Little Rock.

• Aline Villegas, 27, of Little Rock.

• Renea Goddard, 25, of Little Rock.

Jeffrey had previously been sentenced to 17 months in prison and more than $500 in restitution, while the other four were sentenced Thursday.

Nowlin, Espinosa-Villegas and Goddard received 18-month prison sentences and restitution amounts ranging from more than $34,000 to nearly $36,000.

In addition to the prison sentences, all defendants received terms of supervised release. Lung’aho received 36 months of supervision; Nowlin, Espinosa- Villegas and Goddard received 24 months; and Jeffrey received 18 months. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case is a result of numerous incidents of violence and vandalism that occurred in late August and early September 2020 and involved Lung’aho, Jeffrey, Nowlin, Goddard and Espinosa- Vilegas. The investigation revealed that on Aug. 25 and into Aug.

26, 2020, Lung’aho, Jeffrey and others traveled to the Little Rock Police Department (LRPD) Northwest Substation with Molotov cocktails and parked nearby; however, once the group noticed several officers in the area, they left the scene. Later, the group went to Shannon Hills, Arkansas, where a marked police car was parked. Several members of the group broke a window of the car, cut a tire and stole a toolbox from the vehicle.

The group then traveled to LRPD’s 12th Street Substation. As some of the individuals broke patrol vehicle windows and slashed tires, Lung’aho and another individual threw Molotov cocktails at the LRPD patrol vehicles.