Title 12 — Law Enforcement, Emergency Management, and Military Affairs

(a) (1) The Director of the Division of Correction shall formulate and establish a system by which all prisoners delivered to and in the care and custody of the Division of Correction shall be classified according to deportment.(2) In this classification, consideration shall be g…

(1) A person who is convicted of any of the following offenses shall be ineligible to participate in any meritorious furlough program conducted by or for the Division of Correction:(1) Capital murder, § 5-10-101;(2) Murder in the first degree, § 5-10-102;(3) Murder in the second …

(a) The Director of the Division of Correction or the Director of the Division of Community Correction shall prescribe, with the approval of the Board of Corrections, rules for the maintenance of good order and discipline in the facilities and institutions of the Division of Corr…

(1) Under rules prescribed by the Division of Correction, heads of the institutions of the division may authorize:(1) Visits and correspondence, under reasonable conditions, between inmates and approved friends, relatives, and others;(2) Temporary release of an inmate for such oc…

(a) All clergy of every denomination shall be admitted free to a Department of Correction prison or may visit any inmate confined therein, subject to such rules as may be necessary to the good government and discipline of the prison, and may administer the rites and ceremonies of…

(a) (1) A person without the consent of the Director of the Division of Correction shall not bring into or carry out of a prison any letter or writing to or from any inmate.(2) A violation of this section is an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundr…

Amounts held as inmate welfare funds or received as inmate welfare funds through contributions, profit from sale of products to inmates, or otherwise, shall be held as a special fund to be administered and used by the Director of the Division of Correction for the general benefit…

(a) The Board of Corrections is authorized to promulgate rules concerning the maximum amount of cash that inmates of the Division of Correction may have in their possession. (b) The board shall provide adequate facilities for the deposit and safekeeping of cash belonging to inmat…

If the Board of Corrections has good reason for believing that any violation of § 5-54-119 has occurred, it shall investigate the matter and report the facts together with the names of the witnesses to the proper prosecuting attorney.

(a) It is unlawful for any inmate or employee of the Division of Correction or any other person to sell, barter, or trade, or to promise or offer to sell, barter, or trade any favored job or position, working condition, or any promotion or demotion in any job or position at the d…

(a) If an inmate in the care and custody of the Division of Correction or the Division of Community Correction is required to be present during a criminal proceeding or a civil proceeding that arises from a criminal charge or conviction of any court in this state, the county sher…

(a) At least one hundred twenty (120) days before an inmate's anticipated release date, the Division of Correction, in collaboration with the inmate and the Division of Community Correction and the Post-Prison Transfer Board, shall complete a prerelease assessment and reentry pla…

(a) (1) Whenever any inmate of the Department of Correction shall escape from its custody, it shall be the duty of the Director of the Department of Correction or his or her designee to immediately notify the appropriate law enforcement officers in the area where the escape took …

(a) (1) Whenever an inmate serving a sentence for the commission of a crime escapes from the custody of the Division of Correction, it shall be the responsibility of the division to immediately notify the victim of the crime or the victim's next of kin of the inmate's escape.(2) …

(a) The officers and guards of the Division of Correction shall use all lawful and suitable means to defend themselves, secure the persons of offenders, and prevent attempted violence and escape whenever two (2) or more inmates shall combine for the following purposes or whenever…

The Director of the Department of Correction shall have the authority of a county sheriff over the power of the county in which a Department of Correction's prison or inmate camp is situated in all cases of alarm or danger at the prison or inmate camp, in the absence of the count…

(a) An inmate who was convicted and sentenced as an adult for an offense he or she committed before he or she attained eighteen (18) years of age shall not be prevented from participating in an educational, training, or rehabilitative program that is otherwise available to other …

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Minor” means a person who is under eighteen (18) years of age;(2) “Punitive isolation” means the placement of a minor in a location that is separate from the general population as a punishment; and(3) “Solitary confinement” means the isolation of …

(1) For an inmate making an intrastate telephone call from a Division of Correction facility or Division of Community Correction facility:(1) The cost per minute shall not be more than the maximum cost per minute of an interstate inmate telephone call as determined by the Federal…

(a) Unless prohibited by federal law, a person who is in the custody of the Department of Corrections for an offense committed in the state who receives any federal relief or stimulus funds from the United States Government is required to first use the federal relief or stimulus …

(a) (1) Within fourteen (14) days of the initial incarceration of a person, the administrator of the correctional facility with custody of the person, the designee of the administrator of the correctional facility with custody of the person, or the county veteran service officer …

(a) An inmate may be entitled to meritorious good time reducing his or her transfer eligibility date up to thirty (30) days for each month incarcerated after imposition of sentence in one (1) of the units, facilities, and centers maintained by the Division of Correction or the Di…

(a) (1) There is established a classification committee to be defined by administrative rules approved by the Board of Corrections.(2) Members of the committee shall be selected by wardens or supervisors of the various units, facilities, or centers of the Division of Correction a…

(a) All meritorious good time shall be forfeited by an inmate in the event of escape, and all or part of accrued meritorious good time may be taken away by the Director of the Division of Correction or the Director of the Division of Community Correction, respectively, for infrac…

No inmate sentenced to the Division of Correction shall ever receive a reduction under this subchapter, or this subchapter and another subchapter jointly, of more than thirty (30) days for each month served except for the additional days of meritorious good time awards authorized…

(a) (1) Any person who is sentenced by a circuit court to an imposed period of incarceration at a facility operated or contracted by a division of the Department of Corrections and is awaiting transfer to a facility operated or contracted by a division of the department may earn …

This subchapter applies to offenses committed before January 1, 2025.

(a) Properties owned by the State of Arkansas and occupied by the various units of the Division of Correction and the Division of Community Correction are by this subchapter designated as a qualified school district to be known as the “Arkansas Correctional School District”. (b) …

The Board of Corrections and the State Board of Education are directed, authorized, and empowered to adopt rules as are necessary to implement the provisions of this subchapter.

A school established under this subchapter and a person incarcerated who attends the school shall be entitled to certain educational privileges provided generally to common public schools and adult education programs administered by the State Board of Education to students who at…

(a) The cost of implementing and operating the Arkansas Correctional School District shall be borne by the state and shall be paid from funds appropriated by the General Assembly from the general revenues of the state to the Division of Correction, the Division of Community Corre…

The Board of Corrections and the State Board of Education may accept gifts, grants, donations, equipment, materials, bequests, and real and personal property from public and private sources to implement and operate the school program authorized by this subchapter.

(1) The Superintendent of the Arkansas Correctional School District shall:(1) Promulgate rules that require that:(A) Teachers within the Arkansas Correctional School District have and demonstrate awareness of the best practices of scientific reading instruction as required under …

(a) The Department of Correction shall establish and shall prescribe standards for health, medical, mental health, and dental services for each institution, including preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic measures on both an outpatient and inpatient basis for all types of patie…

(a) All prisoners committed to the Division of Correction shall be given a physical examination initially upon arrival and then as often as determined by medical staff of the division. (b) Inmates shall be assigned to labor as shall be fitting, with due consideration being given …

(a) (1) Each new inmate committed to the Division of Correction shall be given a medical examination during the intake process.(2) (A) During the medical examination required under subdivision (a)(1) of this section, the medical provider shall determine what restrictions, if any,…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Permanently incapacitated” means, as determined by a licensed physician, that an inmate:(A) Has a medical condition that is not necessarily terminal but renders him or her permanently and irreversibly incapacitated; and(B) Requires immediate and l…

(a) The Division of Correction is authorized to develop in-house due process procedures as approved by the Board of Corrections in accordance with United States Supreme Court guidelines for the voluntary or involuntary treatment of inmates with mental illness at the facilities an…

(a) The purpose of this section is to enable the Division of Correction to establish a core program that will utilize services of medical and mental health providers in the community to provide intensive treatment of inmates with paraphilia, commonly known as sexual deviations, d…

(a) When an individual who is enrolled in a Medicaid program or the Health Care Independence Program [expired] is incarcerated to the custody of the Division of Correction, the Division of Community Correction, or detained in a county jail, city jail, juvenile detention facility,…

(a) A correctional or detention facility operated or administered by the Department of Corrections shall establish a policy to offer a male inmate or detainee who is:(1) Fifty-five (55) years of age or older but younger than seventy (70) years of age a prostate screening every tw…

This subchapter may be known and cited as the “State Prison Inmate Care and Custody Reimbursement Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Board” means the Board of Corrections;(2) “Cost of care” means the cost to the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction for providing room, board, clothing, medical, and other normal living expenses of inmates in the D…

(a) (1) The Director of the Department of Correction or the Director of the Department of Community Correction shall forward to the Attorney General a list containing the name of each prisoner in the respective penal facilities of the Department of Correction or the Department of…

(a) (1) When a person is admitted to an institution of the Department of Correction as an inmate or the Department of Community Correction as a resident of a community correction facility, the Attorney General shall petition the Pulaski County Circuit Court or the prosecuting att…

It shall be the duty of the sentencing judge, the county sheriff of the county, the Director of the Department of Correction or the Director of the Department of Community Correction, and the warden or administrative head of the penal facility or residential facility in which the…

(a) The Attorney General shall enforce this subchapter. (b) However, the Attorney General may refer to the prosecuting attorney of the county from which the inmate in the Division of Correction or the person residing in a Division of Community Correction facility was sentenced, o…

(a) (1) All moneys recovered for the cost of care of prisoners in a facility of the Division of Correction or the Division of Community Correction under this subchapter shall be deposited into the State Treasury.(2) The Treasurer of State shall credit the moneys to the appropriat…

(a) Any compensatory damages after payment of attorney's fees and costs awarded to a prisoner in connection with a civil action brought against any state or local jail, prison, or correctional facility, or against any official or agent of such jail, person, or correctional facili…

The provisions of this subchapter are not intended to in any way affect the immunity from suit granted to state officials and employees under § 25-44-305 or to the state and its official agencies under Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 20.