Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – The Craighead County Quorum Court on Monday heard updates on the annual state review of the Craighead County Detention Center.
During his presentation, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said everything regarding the jail was in compliance, with the exception of lacking enough space for administrative staff.
“Of course, we’re all aware of the space problems that we have in the detention center, and spaces that were taken up for that purpose, now, they’re actually housing units and things like that,” Boyd said. “But that’s the only thing that the detention center was out of compliance on.”
The jail has consistently held 400 or more inmates since 2023, according to the report, with the highest population count in 2026 being 405. Boyd noted that number does not reflect the fact that the jail had to close some of its units for maintenance and repairs, which would have increased the number of inmates housed.
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“By going through that from ’23 to ’26 when we see that number is staying relatively the same over max capacity, that tells us that the jail is full at all times, unfortunately,” Boyd said.
The jail holds on average, 217 inmates with pretrial felony status, meaning they are being held in jail while awaiting trial. The jail also spends on average, $12,000 per month to maintain the facility, according to Boyd.
After the quorum court’s adjournment, the county government’s public services and finance committees met jointly to discuss a potential step pay program for the Craighead County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the ordinance, each certified law enforcement officer in the department will bank $500 per year for one to 20 years employed, of which the increases will be paid out in five-year increments of the officer’s anniversary date. The following increases would be added to an officers’ salary:
- Five years: $2,500
- Ten years: $5,000
- Fifteen years: $7,500
- Twenty years: $10,000
If the officer had any lapses in employment status with the department, the years of service relative to the pay scale would restart if the officer returned to the sheriff’s department.
Boyd told committee members the plan was intended to retain officers, and noted this plan would likely result in an immediate budget increase of $65,000.
“The struggle that we face, the Jonesboro Police Department is paying a $12,000 sign-on bonus today. State police – we know we’ve lost several officers to state police here in the last couple of years – they pay a larger amount of money than we do that we know we can’t match presently,” Boyd said. “Instead of doing a sign-on bonus, I want to pay the people that’s already here with the department that’s experienced.”
Both committees unanimously voted to send the measure to the full quorum court.
Later, the public services committee heard two ordinances regarding increasing jail fees for adult and juvenile inmates. The adult fee would increase from $55 to $65 per day for county inmates, and from $60 per day to $70 per day for out of county inmates. The juvenile fee would increase from $100 to $125 per day.
Boyd said both ordinances were a response to the detention center losing money on inmates.
“When you look at the true cost and everything, we’re actually losing money a day at $55 per day. $65 per day puts us back to where we are able to cover the housing fees,” Boyd said when explaining the adult jail fee increase.
The juvenile fee is more expensive due to higher number of required staffing, Boyd said. The Craighead County Detention Center serves as one of six juvenile detention centers in the state, so in juvenile cases, it holds many more out of state cases compared to its adult unit.
The committee unanimously forwarded both ordinances to the full quorum court.
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