Arkansas Department of Corrections

The Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) is a state agency that operates state prisons. The agency has its headquarters in the Pine Bluff Complex in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Arkansas Correctional School provides educational services to ADC prisoners.

In 1838 Governor of Arkansas James S. Conway signed legislation that permitted the establishment of the state's first penitentiary, the Arkansas State Penitentiary. In 1839 the State of Arkansas purchased a 92.41-acre (37.40 ha) tract in Little Rock where the first penitentiary was built; now the site houses the Arkansas State Capitol. From 1849 to 1893 the State of Arkansas leased its convicted felons to private individuals. After abuses became publicized, the state assumed direct control of felons. The state continued to have prison labor be hired to contractors, manufacturers, and planters until 1913. In 1899 the state signed legislation that lead to the move of the penitentiary to a new 15-acre (6.1 ha) site southwest of Little Rock. The prison, called "The Walls," opened in 1910. In 1902 the state purchased land that became the Cummins Unit. In 1913 act 55, signed into law, lead to the establishment of a permanent execution chamber in the state prison system. In 1916 the state purchased the land which became the Tucker Unit. In 1933 Junius Marion Futrell, then the governor, closed the penitentiary in Little Rock and transferred the prisoners to Cummins and Tucker, and the execution chamber was moved to Tucker.

In 1943 the state established the State Penitentiary Board through Act 1. In 1951 the state established the State Reformatory for Women through act 351. The state moved the functions of the Arkansas State Training School for Girls to the state prison system. In 1968 the state reorganized the penitentiary system into the Arkansas Department of Correction through Act 50.

In 2014 the state made a call for cities to submit bids to host a new maximum security prison.

For the diagnostic process, male inmates go to the Ouchita River Correctional Unit in Malvern, and women go to the McPherson Unit in Newport. Male death row inmates are housed at the Varner Super Max Unit while women with death sentences are received at McPherson. The death chamber is located at the Cummins Unit. Previously the Diagnostic Unit in Pine Bluff was the intake unit for male prisoners.

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