Governor Asa Hutchinson could decide as early as Wednesday whether a regional correctional facility will come to Lawrence County. County Judge Dale Freeman tells the Sun newspaper at least 30 counties have applied with the state for a jail, but Lawrence County was one of the first to have an application into the state. County officials have been looking at other options for jails since the current jail has been close to closure several times. Arkansas Jail Standards say the current jail in Walnut Ridge is too small and didn’t meet necessary safety standards. If a jail is constructed, it would be placed on six and a half acre piece of land in the county. A regional correctional facility would hold county and state inmates.
Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.