Hope Lions Hear From Sheriff James Singleton, Speaks on Veterans Programs and Jail Plumbing Problems
The Hope Lions heard from Sheriff James Singleton on October 30th. The Sheriff opened his talk with details of the Veterans activities set for November 10th and 11th. There will be a Veterans Parade on November 10th at 4pm. The Sheriff said Mark Ross has informed him there are already over 60 entries. The parade will start on 6th behind Bank OZK and end up on east 2nd near Pafford. There will be trailers for the veterans to ride on who wish to be in the parade. Retired Col. David Lively and American Legion Commander Herbert Ross will be the Grand Marshalls of the parade.
On Veterans Day, November 11th, a program is set for 11am at the old courthouse. Following the program, a fish dinner will be prepared by the Lions and served. Other civic clubs including Kiwanis and Civitan will help with the meal. Veterans and Gold Star Families eat for free. Everyone else will eat for $10. The public is encouraged to attend.
Sheriff Singleton had less pleasant news to share about the condition of the Hempstead County Detention Facility. The jail, which opened almost 30 years ago, has experienced some major plumbing problems and some structural problems. Sheriff Singleton said the problems started with a smell and investigation led to the discovery of some major problems. He noted the soil under the jail has shifted and a 10 inch drain pipe was discovered to have collapsed. At this point, the jail was evacuated of most prisoners with only a few “309’s” left who help with maintenance of the facility. This all started on September 9th. Prisoners are being held in area jails including Ouachita County, Little River County, Nevada County, and Sevier County. The Sheriff said they haven’t stopped arrested people for violent crimes and DWI and such. He said they book them in then find another jail to hold them. All this plus transporting prisoners from other towns is running into considerable time and money. Sending the prisoners to other jails is costing the county about $12,000 per month. There were 98 prisoners when the problems started.
The Sheriff said after they discovered the problem with the drain pipe they found a 2 foot by 2 foot concrete beam that stretches the length of the building had collapsed. A construction company from Fort Smith has been engaged to fix the beam. This entails drilling down about 55 feet and putting in about 20 piers to support the beam. Sheriff Singleton said the next problem came from the holding cell and when they opened it up they found a 12 foot wide by 8 foot deep hole. He noted nothing was holding up the floor but the rebar in the concrete. This hole has now been filled and fixed. Next they learned the grease traps were just emptying into the ground and the Sheriff said the kitchen was being worked on while he was speaking. There has also been water coming in through a wall that is being addressed.
The work being done on the jail should get another 6 to 8 years of service out of the facility, in fact there’s a guarantee for that period ; however, Sheriff Singleton notes Hempstead County residents need to understand that there will need to be a new jail built in the future. The current facility opened in July 1994 and is nearly 30 years old. The current work has costs $68,000 so far. This work and the housing of prisoners is mostly being funded by “Rescue America” money from the federal government. This funding came from the Biden Administration and there’s just under $1 million dollars in these funds the county still has to spend. He estimated the cost of a new jail to be $150,000 per bed so a 100 bed jail, now, would cost about $15 million dollars. Sheriff Singleton says that will come after he retires as he does not plan to run for another term when his term expires the final day of 2026.
JP Steve Atchley, who is a member of the Lions, noted the jail is built over what used to be 4th street and that a water line, sewer line, pavement, and a manhole is under the building. Atchley also noted if and when a new jail is built, the county should consider a juvenile section. Sheriff Singleton mused the perfect place would be on 8.99 acres at the old migrant center north of I-30 off highway 29.
On another tact, Lion and JP James Griffin noted the sheriff has also served as tax collector but the legislature has split the office and in the next election there will be an elected tax assessor. The Sheriff praised Deputy Tax Collector Diane Westbrook who heads up that office.
The Lions were very attentive to the Sheriff’s program and asked several questions before he finished.