Prison News | Arkansas

• Education & Rehabilitation
• Executions, Death Row, & the Death Penalty
• Gangs in Prison
• Health & Medical Treatment
• Prison Classification, Placement, and Release
• Prison Conditions & Corruption
• Prison Life & Prison Culture
• Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes
• Suicides in Prison
• Workplace & Industry News and Science & Tech

Education & Rehabilitation

• Garland County inmates find creative outlet in art program
  
  HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Inmates at the Garland County Detention Center are learning to express themselves creatively in a positive way through art thanks to one of the many programs offered at the jail....[more]
  www.mrt.com, Saturday, July 20, 2019
  
  
• Jail Overcrowding Leads to Repeat Offenders
  
  LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Police are trying to stop what they say is a cycle of crime here in Little Rock. That's why they're speaking out about repeat offenders and partially blaming the problem on overcrowded jails.

  The sound of the jail door slamming is something Quinton Forney's heard eight times in the past two years....[more]

  Associated Press, Saturday, November 8, 2014
  
  
• Inmates grow roses in horticulture program
  
  PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) - Many of the women at the Southeast Arkansas Community Correction Center expressed skepticism when they first laid eyes on a shipment of what appeared to be nothing more than twigs.

  “They were just these spindly, little Charlie Brown things,” Dina Tyler, a deputy director for the Department of Community Correction, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette....[more]

  Washington Times, Sunday, May 11, 2014
  
  

Executions, Death Row & the Death Penalty

• Arkansas Inmate Cites Mental Illness in Death Penalty Appeal
  
  An Arkansas death row inmate convicted of killing a state legislator's daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia and should not be...[more]
  The New York Times, Thursday, January 9, 2020
  
  

Gangs in Prison

• White supremacist gang leader who escaped from Arkansas jail has been captured
  
  Authorities say they’ve captured the leader of a white supremacist gang who escaped from an Arkansas jail earlier this week....[more]
  USA TODAY, Thursday, August 1, 2019
  
  

Health & Medical Treatment

Prison Classification, Placement, & Release

• Opposing private prisons in Arkansas
  
  Shipping incarcerated people across state lines into for-profit prisons rather than prioritizing reforms that would reduce the number of people behind bars exemplifies our state's dangerous reliance on incarceration, particularly incarceration for profit. This costly tactic, which fails to address the root causes of mass incarceration, severely diminishes prisoners’ ties to family and community while private prison companies profit handsomely....[more]
  Arkansas Times, Sunday, November 2, 2014
  
  

Prison Conditions & Corruption

Prison Life & Culture

Riots, Lockdowns & Escapes

• Man dies after an assault by another inmate in Wrightsville Unit
  
  LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Arkansas State Police are investigating the death of a Wrightsville Unit inmate who died Sunday morning after an assault by another inmate, according to an Arkansas Department of Correction news release....[more]
  katv.com, Monday, November 4, 2019
  
  
• Officials find ‘escaped’ inmate hiding on roof of prison building
  
  Arkansas prison officials called off the hunt for an “escaped” inmate — after realizing the convicted killer was hiding on the roof of the lockup. Authorities spent more than a day searching for Calvin Adams, 49, after a unit check in the early hours Monday showed him missing from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys....[more]
  NewYork Post, Wednesday, October 2, 2019
  
  
• Inmate loses Supreme Court appeal
  
  An inmate at the Arkansas Department of Correction who alleged that prison officials withheld copies of a religious magazine from him and prohibited him from leading religious services failed to convince the Arkansas Supreme Court that his claims were valid....[more]
  pbcommercial.com, Saturday, June 8, 2019
  
  
• Authorities say inmate who escaped from Arkansas jail last month is recaptured in Florida
  
  HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate, Derek Estelle, who escaped from a central Arkansas jail last month has been recaptured in the Florida Panhandle....[more]
  Associated Press, Friday, August 23, 2013
  
  
• Inmate escapes from central Arkansas jail
  
  HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) - Authorities say an inmate has escaped from a central Arkansas jail. Garland County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. James Martin says 33-year-old Derrick Estell escaped from the county detention center at about 1:40...33-year-old Derrick Estell escaped from the county detention center at about 1:40 p.m. Sunday...[more]
  Associated Press, Sunday, July 28, 2013
  
  

Suicides in Prison

• Inmate serving robbery sentence dies at Malvern unit; agency says death was self-inflicted
  
  MALVERN, Ark. (AP) - Officials say a 45-year-old inmate was found dead at the state prison in Malvern. The Arkansas Department of Correction says Steve Oldham died Thursday night from an apparent self-inflicted wound. Agency spokeswoman Shea ......[more]
  Associated Press, Friday, August 9, 2013
  
  

Workplace & Industry News, and Science & Tech News