TEXARKANA, Texas - The cancellation of a contract to house Arkansas Department of Corrections inmates in the Bowie County jail will have no impact on the county's bottom line, according to the county judge.
Bowie County Judge Bobby Howell said the recent termination of the contract by ADC because of differences over COVID-19 protocols won't create any change in revenue for the county.
"We paid LaSalle the same amount (for the ADC inmates) as we were getting from ADC (under the contract)," Howell said.
Howell said the 2015 ADC contract did not result in any profits for Bowie County. He said the contract predates his administration and may have benefited LaSalle Corrections, the private company that contracts with Bowie County to manage the jail in the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana and the jail annex located behind it on Front Street.
The Arkansas Board of Corrections approved terminating the contract to house ADC inmates in Bowie County at its meeting Oct. 28, said ADC Communications Director Cindy Murphy.
A letter to Howell and Bowie County Sheriff-elect Jeff Neal from ADC Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne, cites COVID-19 testing protocol.
"In Arkansas, the ADC follows the guidelines set forth by the Arkansas Department of Health in conjunction with Centers for Disease Control guidelines," the letter states.
The letter notes that ADC has implemented mass testing for COVID among inmates and staff at its facilities since July in coordination with the Arkansas Department of Health.
"These efforts were put into place in order to assist the division with contact trace efforts as a means to keep COVID-19 from spreading throughout the facilities," the letter states. "It has come to my attention that the Bowie County Correctional Facility does not have similar guidelines in place for its offender population. We believe these guidelines are important to the continued health and safety of our inmate population."
All of the 277 inmates being housed in Bowie County have been returned to Arkansas as of Oct. 6, Murphy said. She said 25 of the ADC inmates tested positive for COVID-19 while in Bowie County and that those results were confirmed "with our own testing when they arrived in Arkansas."
Neal, however, said he believes only 10 ADC inmates tested positive for the virus while in Bowie County and that three ADC inmates were in quarantine.
"We don't have the manpower or the space to do mass testing or what they were wanting to do for protocols," Neal said.
Murphy said that an additional 50 of the ADC inmates recently reclaimed from Bowie County have tested positive since their return to Arkansas and that test results are pending for 113 more.
A 65-year-old ADC inmate serving a lengthy sentence for rape died Oct. 18 of COVID-19. A custodial death report in the case of Charles Simmons notes he was diagnosed with the virus while in the Bowie County jail and was hospitalized at Wadley Oct. 16, two days before his death. Simmons had been in Bowie County per the ADC contract since March 2016.
A 59-year-old ADC inmate died Oct. 28 at Wadley. Ricky Daffron suffered severe head injuries during a fight with another ADC inmate Oct. 9 and was diagnosed with COVID upon admittance to the hospital.
Howell said Bowie County is not currently accepting inmates from other counties or states because of the pandemic.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards requires Texas jails to report all COVID infections in a correctional facility regardless of whether they are being held for another county or state.
As of Wednesday, Bowie County reported five active inmate cases of COVID and the quarantine of 55 inmates. Bowie County reported seven active infections among staff at the jail Wednesday and reported one staff member is awaiting test results.