Legislative hearing held amid ongoing push for new prison in Franklin County

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The twists and turns of the proposed Franklin County prison plan continue as lawmakers listen to testimony and evidence from the group, Gravel and Grit, who opposed the prison.

They brought concerns from the price tag to the site study before the land was purchased, to community input.

“It’s going to happen to another community, and to the extent we could bring up issues that drive policy moving forward, to prevent the type of thing that’s happening in our community, we thought worth it to bring up,”  Gravel and Grit Director Adam Watson said.

The presentation was a timeline of events of the prison plan, in what Watson says is an effort to get it all on the record and in the public view.

“There are 605 homes within a 5-mile radius of this facility; it’s going to fundamentally change the way of life in Charleston, and in the broader area to an extent that I think is greater than a lot of people realize,” Watson said.

Lawmakers questioned Watson as well as department leaders from Shared Administrative Services and Geographic Information Systems, who made the site recommendation for Charleston.

Some legislators questioned if the location is the right one.

“Having been in law enforcement several years, again, I support a prison, we need one, but the location that we’ve picked is the wrong one,” Rep. Jim Wooten said.

Watson says he hopes the topic will continue to be discussed.

On an ongoing basis, I would really just like to see this not be the end of this conversation,” Watson said. “This committee should be meeting once a week to further probe everything going on today.”