The Arkansas Department of Corrections has awarded the University of Arkansas at Little Rock a four-year contract worth more than $453,000 to study and assess the state’s prison culture and climate.
“This multi-year project, funded by existing DOC revenues, will be the first of its kind done on the state’s adult corrections system,” Solomon Graves, department secretary, said in a news release. “This has the potential to be a game-changer for the Department of Corrections. For the past decade, we have worked toward increasing our utilization of data-informed decision making.
“Along with our newly created Quality Improvement and Program Evaluation unit, this UA Little Rock partnership will give our board and leadership team the type of actionable data we have only dreamed about.”
At the end of the study, the university will provide a final report with conclusions and recommendations about each unit in the prison system, a review of the educational programming throughout the system, recommendations with corresponding best practices for DOC administration, and recommendations to improve the culture and climate throughout the system.
UA Little Rock criminal justice professors Mary Parker, Robert Lytle and Molly Smith will lead the project that began May 1 and will end on April 30, 2025. The award will also fund the work of a graduate assistant, Cassidy Mitchell, a criminal justice doctoral student at UA Little Rock.
The first phase will include studies on Cummins, Varner, East Arkansas, Tucker and Tucker Max. Phase two will cover Ouachita River, Wrightsville Complex and Delta. The third phase will include North Central, Grimes, McPherson, Pine Bluff units, and independent work release centers. The fourth and final phase will cover Community Correction Centers and probation and parole offices.
Researchers will survey offenders, prison staff, family members of offenders and volunteers for the study. The team will also conduct focus groups with medical, educational programming, unit support, management, training staff, probation and parole officers and other staff members.
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