Prison water supply meeting canceled again

A meeting between state and City of Fort Smith officials about supplying water to a planned state prison in Franklin County that was set for Tuesday (July 29) was canceled by the state. The meeting will “more than likely be rescheduled.”

Gov. Sarah Sanders announced in October 2024 that the state had purchased land north of Charleston in Franklin County to build a 3,000-bed prison. The cost for the 815 acres was $2.9 million.

City officials, state officials, and execs with Vanir, the company contracted to help the state build the prison, met April 4 to talk about Fort Smith supplying water to the prison.

Access to water is an uncertainty in the effort to build a prison, with those opposed to the Franklin County site saying the area does not have the water supply to support a large prison. The Arkansas Board of Corrections (BOC) on June 26 voted to authorize up to $50,000 to conduct testing for water well testing at a proposed prison site. The vote also included investigating the viability of existing wells on the property.

“Talked to our folks at Vanir. Because of the information that has been released over the last few weeks, it was felt an in-person meeting wasn’t needed at this time,” BOC Chief of Communications Rand Champion said when asked why the Tuesday meeting was canceled. “It will more than likely be rescheduled for a future date, but that hasn’t been set yet.”

Fort Smith spokesman Josh Buchfink said Tuesday’s meeting is the third meeting that was set and canceled by the state.

“As of today, the only meeting regarding supplying water to the proposed prison was held on April 4,” Buchfink said. “Two other meetings were scheduled at the state’s request but were later cancelled, also at the state’s request.”

WATER REPORT
The “information that has been released” was in the information in “different media stories regarding the Fort Smith water supply,” Champion said.

Part of that information included a June 30, 2025, report from Hawkins-Weir Engineers about the ability of Fort Smith to supply water to a prison located 15-20 miles from the “master meter” in Barling that feeds water to parts of Franklin County. The report indicated that Fort Smith’s water system is not now able to meet the estimated demands of the planned prison.

“Projecting daily demands out five (5) years using the 1.5% annual growth factor, the number of days when water demand exceeds 45 MGD could increase to 64 days by 2030 without further treatment and transmission improvements,” the report noted. “Consequently, with the current capacity restrictions, the existing City of Fort Smith water system cannot adequately supply the proposed correctional facility during periods of maximum day water demand.”

WATSON LETTER
In addition to the water uncertainty, one member of the Board of Corrections has publicly criticized Gov. Sanders’ prison plan. BOC member Lee Watson, a Fort Smith resident, said the BOC never requested a 3,000-bed prison. Watson said the prison was a political rather than practical decision.

“The sad fact is that the 3,000 number was pulled out of the Arizona hot air by our former Secretary of Corrections (Joe Profiri),” Watson noted in this letter. “Then it became a political promise founded on the same hot air. … It is important to note that the county jail backup (i.e. prison overcrowding) in recent years has remained somewhat consistently around 1,600. If Arkansas had an additional 3,000 bed facility today, 1,400 beds would be empty.”

Watson proposed an alternative solution.

“Arkansas’ Department of Corrections and its county jails have needed relief for years,” Watson wrote. “This can most quickly and cost efficiently happen by adding 500 beds to the North Central Unit, adding 500 beds through community corrections facilities, and by adding a 1,000 bed prison. Arkansas has a 500 million-dollar problem and a 1 billion-dollar 3,000 bed prison is not the solution.”

Sanders’ spokesman Sam Dubke pushed back against Watson’s letter, telling the Arkansas Advocate that the prison bed shortage “is far larger than a simple tally of inmates currently in county jails.”