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

(a) An inmate committed by any court in Arkansas to a county jail or city jail in the State of Arkansas may be entitled to a reduction, to be known as “meritorious good time”, from his or her maximum term of his or her sentence to be served in the county jail or city jail. (b) (1…

(a) There is established a classification committee consisting of such persons as the county sheriff or chief of police may designate. (b) The committee shall meet as often as necessary to classify the inmates of the county jail or city jail into one (1) of three (3) classes acco…

(a) All meritorious good time shall be forfeited by the inmate in the event of escape, and all or part of the accrued meritorious good time may be taken away by the county sheriff or chief of police for infraction of rules. (b) However, in the event of escape, the county sheriff …

Under rules prescribed by the county sheriff or chief of police, and approved by the county quorum court or city legislative body, the county sheriff or chief of police may authorize emergency furloughs, under reasonable conditions, for inmates for occasions such as serious illne…

(a) (1) (A) Commissions derived from inmate telephone services, if the inmate telephone service is provided by the county or regional detention facility, and profits earned from inmate commissary services provided in the various county and regional detention facilities in the sta…

(a) If an inmate in a local correctional facility receives medical services that meet criteria for Medicaid coverage, the local correctional facility may apply for Medicaid coverage under this section. (b) (1) The inmate may designate a representative for the purposes of filing a…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Healthcare professional” means an individual or entity that is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of the practice of his or her profession or as a function of an …

(1) A local correctional facility is encouraged to:(1) Adopt independently, or in collaboration with other local correctional facilities or nongovernmental law enforcement entities, a screening tool designed to screen inmates or other detainees for a behavioral health impairment,…

Unless prohibited by federal law, a person who is in the custody of a local or regional correctional facility 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 s…

(a) (1) The Association of Arkansas Counties shall compile and submit an annual report to the Legislative Council outlining all costs incurred, excluding construction costs, by local government units that house state inmates sentenced to the Division of Correction and the Divisio…

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

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Changing room” means the same as defined under § 22-3-2201;(2) (A) “Correctional facility” means a local correctional facility that has the power to detain or restrain a person under the laws of the state, including without limitation facilities o…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Law” means a statute of a state, a written opinion of a court of record, a municipal ordinance, a county quorum court ordinance, or a rule authorized by and lawfully adopted pursuant to a statute; and(2) “Municipality” means an incorporated cit…

(a) A county in this state and a municipality in that county, both located on the state line, may contract with an adjoining county and any municipality in that county located on the other side of the state line for the joint construction, financing, operation, and management of …

(a) The contract must provide that the county sheriffs of the two (2) counties are jointly responsible for operation of any jail, lockup, or other detention facility in the justice center and the custody, care, and treatment of persons in custody in the facility or must provide f…

(a) The governing body of a municipality or county contracting, as provided by §§ 12-41-202 and 12-41-203, may finance its share of the construction, financing, operation, or management of the justice center by any means that it could finance the type of facilities in the center …

(a) A circuit court or district court having jurisdiction in the county or municipality in which a part of the justice center is located may maintain offices and courtrooms and hold proceedings at the center. (b) (1) A court of this state may not hold proceedings in the part of t…

(a) (1) Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, the law of both states regarding rights, duties, liabilities, privileges, and immunities arising from conduct applies to conduct in any part of the justice center.(2) If, however, it is impossible for a person to conform hi…

(a) A person who is in the justice center in the custody of a peace officer or center personnel under Arkansas law:(1) Is constructively present in Arkansas while that person is in custody in the part of the center in the other state;(2) May be prosecuted for an offense against A…

(a) Arkansas agrees that a person who is in the justice center in the custody of a peace officer or center personnel under the law of the other state may be:(1) Prosecuted for an offense against the law of the other state without extradition of that person; and(2) Personally serv…

(a) (1) A person who is summoned to appear in the justice center under Arkansas law:(A) Is constructively present in Arkansas while that person is appearing under the summons in the part of the center in the other state;(B) Without extradition, may be arrested in any part of the …

(a) If the other state enacts legislation as provided in § 12-41-202, a peace officer of Arkansas may:(1) Arrest a person under Arkansas law in the part of the center in the other state for an offense against Arkansas law if that peace officer would be authorized to make that arr…

(a) (1) The county courts of the several counties in this state shall purchase a farm or tract of land within the boundaries of the county and provide for the erection on the farm or tract of land a house of correction.(2) However, the farm or tract of land shall not be purchased…

(a) When any farm or tract of land has been purchased by the county court as provided in § 12-41-301(a), the county court shall cause to be let out to the lowest bidder the contract for building and erecting on the tract of land a house of correction. (b) The house of correction …

All contracts, appropriations, and disbursements of money concerning the purchase of the land or farm provided for in § 12-41-301 and the erection of the house of correction shall be made according to and be governed by the laws concerning public county contracts, appropriations,…

(a) The county court shall have general supervisory control over the farm and house of correction and shall take means to correct any mismanagement of the facilities. (b) With the advice of the superintendent, the county court shall prescribe, from time to time, such rules for th…

(a) The county court of any county in which any house of correction shall be erected shall appoint a discreet person, who shall be a qualified elector of this state and who shall be known as the superintendent of the house of correction. (b) The superintendent shall have charge o…

(a) When any house of correction has been erected as provided for in § 12-41-302, all persons who shall be convicted of petit larceny or any other crime cognizable before justices of the peace, and sentenced to imprisonment, shall be sentenced to confinement in the house of corre…

(a) All persons sentenced to confinement in the house of correction shall be compelled to labor on the farm or lands on which the house of correction shall be situated in such manner as is provided for in subsection (c) of this section and for the term of their imprisonment. (b) …

(a) The product of all labor of the prisoners confined in the house of correction shall be applied, under the direction of the county courts, to the payment of the expenses of the persons so confined and such other expenses as may be necessarily incurred in improving and keeping …

(a) The city council shall have power to erect, establish, and maintain a city jail, which shall be in the keeping and under the control of the chief of police, under such rules and regulations as the city council may prescribe. (b) The city council shall provide one (1) or more …

It shall be the duty of the keeper of the city jail, watch, and station houses to provide all persons confined therein for any offense with necessary food during their confinement, and the cost thereof, not exceeding thirty cents (30¢) per day to each person, shall be taxed as co…

(a) In all cities of the first class there shall be elected by the city council each year immediately after the organization thereof, after each annual election, one (1) police matron, who shall be at least twenty-five (25) years of age and a woman of good character and deportmen…

(a) The governing bodies in the various municipalities in this state may establish a daily fee to be charged counties for keeping prisoners of counties in the municipal jail. (b) The fee shall be based upon the reasonable expenses which the municipality incurs in keeping such pri…

(a) (1) The chief of police, or his or her designee, may determine if a person convicted and sentenced to the city jail shall serve his or her sentence on electronic monitoring or on weekends if the determination does not conflict with any court orders.(2) If the chief of police,…

A.C.A. § 12-41-501Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

The county sheriff of each county in this state shall have the custody, rule, and charge of the jail within his or her county and all prisoners committed in his or her county, and he or she may appoint a jailer for whose conduct he or she shall be responsible.

(a) County sheriffs and other keepers or administrators of jails within the State of Arkansas are responsible for managing the populations and operations of their respective facilities in compliance with the laws and the Arkansas Constitution and within the requirements of the Un…

The quorum court in each county shall prescribe the method and procedure for feeding and keeping prisoners confined in the county jail and shall provide for payment for food and services.

(a) (1) Every person who is committed to the common jail of the county by lawful authority for any criminal offense or misdemeanor, if he or she is convicted, shall pay the expenses in carrying him or her to jail and also for his or her support from the day of his or her initial …

(a) (1) In the absence of an agreement on jail costs between a county and all municipalities having law enforcement agencies in the county, the quorum court in a county in this state may by ordinance establish a daily fee to be charged municipalities for keeping prisoners of muni…

(a) Whenever the county sheriff of any county of this state shall be of the opinion that the jail of his or her county is insufficient to secure the prisoners that may be therein committed, it shall be his or her duty to give notice thereof to the county court. (b) If the jail ca…

(a) It shall be the duty of the grand jury at each term of the circuit court to visit the jail of their county, to examine into the condition thereof, to inquire into the treatment of the prisoners, and to report thereon to the circuit court. (b) In their report the grand jury sh…

(a) (1) The county sheriff of any county in this state, where there is no jail in his or her county or the jail of the county is insufficient, may commit any person in his or her custody, either on criminal or civil process, to a jail in some other county located in this state, p…

(a) (1) It shall be the duty of the keeper of the jail in each county and of the keeper or warden at the penitentiary walls to receive into his or her custody all persons who may, from time to time, be committed to his or her custody under the authority of the United States.(2) T…

(a) The county sheriff may be imprisoned in the jail of his or her own county. (b) For the time the county sheriff shall be confined, the county coroner shall have the custody, rule, keeping, and charge of the jail and shall, by himself or herself and his or her securities, be an…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Jail Enforcement Model” means a model of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorizing deputized state and local law enforcement officers to interrogate a person for information relating to the person's immigration status and t…

This subchapter may be referred to and cited as the “County Jail Revenue Bond Act of 1981”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Board” means the county jail board established under the provisions of this subchapter;(2) “Bonds” means bonds and any series of bonds authorized by and issued pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter;(3) (A) “Construct” means to acquire, …

(a) This subchapter shall be construed liberally. (b) The enumeration of any object, purpose, power, manner, method, and thing shall not be deemed to exclude like or similar objects, purposes, powers, manners, methods, or things.