Future Little River County Jail inmates could spend a part of each day tending to squash and tomatoes.
The Little River County Jail Committee on Friday, Oct. 12, reviewed the blueprints of the planned Pike County Jail to be built starting in January. Little River County Judge Clayton Castleman, who heads the jail committee, said the $2.7 million Pike County facility will include something unique for a South Arkansas jail – a garden area.
“It’s going to be with their jail so that the inmates can work in the garden for exercise – that’s something we hadn’t thought about,” Castleman said.
Castleman said the garden area would allow jail inmates to grow produce for consumption at the facility and “get the inmates out in the sunlight more.”
“I kinda like that idea,” Castleman said.
Castleman said the Pike County Jail when completed would be similar in size and style to what the LRCO Jail Committee, during its monthly meetings this year, has determined would best suit Little River County’s jail needs.
Castleman said the Pike County Jail blueprint features a pod design and will have a daily inmate capacity of 58.
“It’s about the size that we’ve been talking about,” Castleman said.
The present Little River County Jail has a legal daily inmate capacity of 12, but routinely houses as many as 20 inmates each day, according to jail records.
The state of Arkansas has mandated that the county either renovate the existing jail or build a new facility – or risk the state taking over the jail’s operations.
The county has opted to build a new jail and the special jail committee has met each month since its formation in January to study the county’s jail needs.