Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center in Fayetteville to close

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center in Fayetteville will close, Arkansas Department of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness confirmed to KNWA/FOX24 on Thursday.

Washington County Justice of the Peace Beth Coger said the NWACCC opened its doors in 2007 in what was formerly the Washington County Jail, located near the corner of College Avenue and Spring Street in Fayetteville.

The Arkansas DOC leases the facility for $1 to use it as a state women’s prison.

She said when the Criminal Justice Assessment study done by the National Center of State Courts was released in 2020, it found the NWACCC to be a model facility with a low recidivism rate.

“The reason that is, is because the women there actually get treatment,” JP Coger said.

There is a counselor that works with the women, there are GED and some college course programs, job training and several non-profits work go to the center to teach skills or host bible studies.

The women inside also took the empty walls of the facility and turned them into inspiring murals.

“It’s so much more than just a prison,” JP Coger said. “It’s an asset to our community and it would be terrible to lose it.”

This past spring, Washington County Judge Patrick Deakins announced he was making the difficult decision to cancel the lease and let it end on December 31 of this year.

“Either we need to be adequately paid for that facility or we are going to use it as extra jail bed space to relieve some of the suffering we are having at our Washington County Detention Center,” Judge Deakins told KNWA/FOX24 in April.

Judge Deakins and Chairman Magness had been communicating in the months since to see if an agreement could be made to keep the facility open, but none could be reached.

In part of a statement sent to KNWA/FOX24 on Wednesday, Washington County said that it “will continue to bring solutions to ensure our taxpayer resources are being utilized to their highest and best use.”

Magness said he is not sure when the facility will be closing but they will work to move all the women remaining to other prisons in the state. He said he respects the decisions that local leaders have to make for their communities.

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