LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday called on the head of the Board of Corrections to resign immediately in the latest round of a dispute over who runs the state's prison system.
Sanders' letter came after Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness requested Wednesday for 138 National Guard members to work full-time in the state's prisons to “fill staffing gaps.”
Magness plans to complete his term, which ends in two years, Corrections Department spokesperson Dina Tyler said in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Friday. Magness was appointed to the board in 1999 by Sanders' father, then governor. Mike Huckabee.
The dispute stems from the fact that the Sanders administration has made progress in opening 622 temporary prison beds that the board has not approved. Board members have said opening the temporary beds would jeopardize the safety of inmates and staff.
Arkansas prisons are currently over capacity, with more than 1,600 additional state prisoners being held in county jails.
Sanders wrote in her letter Friday that if the board wants more beds, it should reinstate Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri and implement his “plan to safely reopen the beds without the need for additional staff.”
“I will not inject our Guardsmen into a purely political situation caused by the person asking for it,” Sanders said in her letter to Magness.
Tyler noted that the guards would not directly supervise the inmates, but would serve in support positions for security, including in towers and at entrances. A similar strategy has been used in other states, such as Florida and New Hampshire, the department said.
The board suspended Profiri last week and took the state to court over a new law that took away the panel's power to hire and fire Profiri and gave it to the governor. A judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the law and set a hearing in the case for next week. Attorney General Tim Griffin has asked the court to reconsider the order.
The stalled bill also would have given the secretary of corrections, not the board, the authority to hire and fire the directors of the corrections and community corrections departments.