Attorney for group opposing new prison removed from prison planning meeting

Joey McCutchen, an attorney for the Franklin County & River Valley Coalition in its effort to block a planned state prison, was removed Tuesday (Jan. 7) from a “high-level project goal planning” meeting among public and private officials about the prison.

Also asked to leave was Franklin County resident Adam Watson.

Gov. Sarah Sanders and other state officials announced Oct. 31 that the state had purchased land north of Charleston in Franklin County to build the prison. The cost for the 815 acres was $2.9 million. One of the reasons for the western Arkansas site selection was to avoid placing the prison in an area where additional prisons already exist, which could affect potential workforce options. Once the prison is complete, it will employ nearly 800 individuals at an average salary of more than $46,600, based on estimates. Sanders said the region is large enough to provide a workforce pool from which to hire enough people to staff the prison.

More than 1,800 area residents attended a town hall on Nov. 7 at the Charleston High School gym to ask questions about the prison and push back against it being built in Franklin County. Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, has suggested that legal action might be pursued to stop the state from building the prison. Stubblefield’s district includes the Franklin County area, and he said he was never notified of the state’s effort to acquire the property.

The Arkansas Board of Corrections (BOC) in late 2024 approved a $16.5 million contract with Sacramento, Calif.-based Vanir Construction Management to coordinate planning to build the prison.

Luann Salado, a project manager with Vanir on the planned prison, in December sent emails to numerous state officials to coordinate what she called a “kick-off” meeting to begin “high-level project goal planning” between Vanir and the state. The meetings were set for Jan. 7-8 at a Department of Corrections auditorium in North Little Rock.

“You are receiving this invitation because you’ve been identified as needing to be directly involved with this project and we have some high-level project goal planning to do over the course of our 2-days together,” Salado noted in one of the emails. “If we’ve had some time together already, I just want to say thank you for taking time to speak with our team prior to this official kick-off. We look forward to getting to know everyone on this team and working together to deliver a fantastic new facility to the state of Arkansas.”

McCutchen said he and Adam Watson were initially allowed into the meeting room, but were soon asked to leave and were told that North Little Rock police officers would escort them out if they didn’t leave voluntarily. McCutchen said he learned about the meeting from documents he received after a Freedom of Information Act request.

“I really didn’t know one way or another (if we could attend), but I knew that (BOC member) Lee Watson didn’t know about it, and I hadn’t seen anything in the media about it, so I had a feeling they might (ask us to leave),” McCutchen told Talk Business & Politics.

When asked why the public was not able to attend the meeting, DOC Communications Director Rand Champion said it was just an initial meeting for department staff.

“It’s for department staff for the time being. … We’re just not there (for public input) yet, unfortunately. This is just the initial kick off,” he said.

McCutchen questioned why an initial planning meeting would be private.

“If they are going to discuss public business like this then the public needs to be invited. I’m even curious if any legislators were invited. … It’s concerning to me that they are excluding the legislative branch at every level,” he said.

Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, whose large district dips into Franklin County, said he was not notified of the meeting and wasn’t sure why it was a private meeting.

“If it’s held on state grounds, I mean I’m kind of wondering why the public wasn’t notified. I mean, I’m kind of curious if I could show up. … This whole thing has been secretive about everything they are doing, so why would they stop,” said King, who has been vocal in his opposition to the new prison.

Lee Watson, who lives in the Fort Smith area, told Talk Business & Politics he was not sure if it should have been a public meeting. Lona McCastlain was the only member of the 7-person Board of Corrections who attended the meeting, which meant the state agency did not have to notify the press.