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Detention Center

 

Our primary duty is to serve our community by providing a safe, secure facility where people are treated with dignity and respect and learn to be accountable for their actions.

The county jail houses those charged and awaiting trial, those arrested on warrants, those serving sentences at the county jail, those placed on holds by Parole and Probation, those sentenced to and awaiting beds in the state prison system or Community Corrections, those sentenced by municipal courts in our county as well as others placed here on holds for other agencies.

The Jail can house subjects accused of all levels of charges. We are responsible for securely holding all of these individuals as well as providing a safe environment. Pretrial confinement is not for punishment purposes. It is merely to assure that the arrestee appears in court. Sentenced inmates, on the other hand, are here as punishment for their offense. It is the responsibility of the deputies and civilian staff to make productive use of the inmates time, but not to inflict further punishment upon them.

 

The 100 bed Hempstead County Jail and Detention Center is under the leadership and direction of Captain Johnny Godbolt, Jail Administrator. Lt. James Wise serves as his second in command. The Detention Center is staffed by 21 fulltime jailors/matrons.

All persons who are arrested and taken into custody are transported to the Detention Center for booking and incarceration. The Detention Center is divided into separate housing areas for low/medium security risk males, high security risk males, and female inmates, as well as isolation and temporary holding cells. The Detention Center houses both pre-trial detainees and post-conviction inmates who are serving sentences or awaiting transport to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

The Detention Center has an in-house medical facility area used by the staff physician and nurse practitioner. In addition, there is a full kitchen where all meals are prepared for inmates. The kitchen is staffed by a Cook and by "Act 309" inmates, who are state prisoners assigned to work duties in local detention facilities. 

Each member of the Detention Center staff is required to complete a minimum of forty hours of state approved training to become certified Jailers.

 

 Johnny Godbolt

 

Captain Johnny Godbolt, Administrator