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🌟 UPDATE ON THE NWA COMMUNITY CORRECTION CENTER (“CCC”) JUDGE DEAKINS' VERSION
This letter seems almost prideful that there were no “negotiations or talks.”
Judge doesn’t name that “certain JP” with their “...fantastical figment of a wild imagination,” who “selfishly injected herself in the communications process and stifled any real, candid conversations with the state,” so you’ll have to ask him if you want more information on that. This JP evidently somehow stopped all of Washington County AND the entire Arkansas Department of Corrections from pursuing a "possibly renewed and mutually beneficial relationship with DOC," and made the county unable to demonstrate itself "...as a sophisticated, lucid and reliable counterpart."
Read the letter and let me know your thoughts.
I was encouraged, or at least less depressed, after reading some comments in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette which quoted Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins as saying “What we’re doing in traditional incarceration isn’t working…I don’t think the general public has the appetite to support building a facility that’s just an expansion of what we have now…”
Maybe he, Sheriff Cantrell and others are finally seeing the light that there’s no way we can staff and fund another jail (Washington County taxpayers have already spoken on that) and that we are going to have to finally address the root causes of our over-incarceration rate. Crime in Washington County in 2023 was lower than it was in 2013. That makes their argument that expanded jail facilities are necessary because of our growing population much less persuasive. Crime is down. Population is up. Crime is down. More information on this below.
We know what we need to do. It’s all contained in the Criminal Justice Assessment Study prepared by the National Center of State Courts. The county paid for that study and Judge Deakins (as then JP) supported it.
Here’s how you can contact your county officials.
🌟 The Washington County Planning Board met Thursday, 8/22/24. You can watch the meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/live/5xRoR8QeA10?si=l4txDmive1t0zNZJ
🌟 The Washington County Election Commission met Friday 8/23/24 for the 2024 ballot draw. Candidates, or their representatives, draw numbers to determine their place on the ballot (1st, 2nd, 3rd). Most candidates don’t think the position of their name on the ballot is a big deal, but there’s just something about it that I think might bring a little momentum for the candidate. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/N7IuoFu0w4Q?si=4oMMGcSA2PwQ8TUQ
🌟 The “I Voted Sticker Contest” is happening now. As a reminder, here’s the final entries. You can vote online through Monday 8/26/24 at the Election Commission’s website at tinyurl.com/ms9mzss5. It’s going to be a hard choice.
⇒ 🌟 DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION 8/24/24
As of 8/24/24, there are at least 764 people reported as incarcerated in our county jail (likely more as some bookings are “restricted” and don’t show on the public dashboard) 100 of those are listed as homeless.
Here’s the link to the Detailed Charge Report:
⇒ 🌟 CRIME IN WASHINGTON COUNTY IS DOWN! SEE THE 2023 CRIME STATISTICS BELOW COMPARED YEARLY SINCE 2013. 2023 CRIMES DOWN TO BELOW 2013 LEVEL
WASHINGTON COUNTY CRIME STATISTICS
2013 - 2023 TOTAL OFFENSES BY MAJOR CATEGORY
Source: Arkansas Crime Information Center https://www.acic.org/crime-statistics
If we had real pretrial services, expanded drug courts, more public defenders, mental health services, drug addiction treatment for everyone, we would see our jail population reduced too, but we’re not doing that.
COUNTY BID POSTINGS
🌟 No new bids or RFQs as of this writing.
COUNTY JOB OPENINGS THIS WEEK (8/25/24)
Here’s a link to the current job postings: https://www.washingtoncountyar.gov/government/departments-f-z/human-resources/job-postings
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