The baffling economics of building a prison
Republican Senator Bryan King, representing District 28 (Carroll and Madison counties and portions of Boone Franklin, Johnson and Newton counties) has been a vocal opponent of building a 3,000-bed mega prison in Franklin County. He emailed this opinion:
Who will cash in on construction of the Franklin County prison? And who will be left holding the mega prison scam bag?
To find out, let’s fast forward to July 2032 and assume that the mega prison scam has been approved. But first let’s look at what is happening today in Utah and Alabama, where mega prisons are being built.
The one in Utah was built and caused a cost explosion. The original promise was that it would cost $500 million but the actual cost was double. Even now problems continue because although it’s only a few miles from the Salt Lake City airport, they cannot hire sufficient staff. The Salt Lake metropolitan area has a population of 1.2 million people.
The closest population center to the proposed Franklin County prison is Fort Smith, with a metropolitan area of 232,000 people. Yet somehow the governor, her legislative cronies and Joe Profiri, her “expert” on prisons, say they can find staff – 800 people – to work way out in rural Franklin County.
Based on population data, if the Franklin County mega prison goes through it will be lucky to find 300 staff by 2032. That will limit its capacity to just 1,000 inmates, at most, a far cry from the 3,000 promised by the governor.
Let’s look at cost. In 2021 Alabama started building two 4,000-bed prisons for a projected $1.3 billion. They’ve only finished half of one and already it’s costing as much as what the two prisons were estimated to cost. After four years they aren’t even close to completion.
Back in Arkansas, let’s look at how well the governor’s promises have held up. She and Profiri and their legislative pals promised a 3,000-bed prison for a bargain price of $470 million. The price tag has since sky-rocketed to $1 billion – or $825 million – or somewhere close, we really can’t say because they’ve changed the estimate so many times. They can stop on a dime and add hundreds of millions of dollars to their estimate – no pun intended.
Who cashes in and who will be left holding the bag? By 2032 the governor and the legislators pushing this mega prison scam will all be out of office, thanks to term limits. Also long gone will be Profiri and his $200,000-a-year job giving advice. Our current governor will be in Washington, D.C., but the rest of us will be dealing with the fallout.
Counties like Benton, Washington, Sebastian and Pulaski account for half the inmate population in Arkansas. Because of those four counties, in 2032 the state Correction Board will be screamed at for additional beds.
Counties like Boone, Greene, Grant, Garland and Sevier? Like dozens of other rural counties, they’ll get the shaft. Their residents will pay taxes for prisons to hold inmates from four counties.
Thankfully, in the past session Franklin County residents and their allies made legislative history when they defeated a funding measure for the mega prison. Not just once, but five times!
But today, while you’re back at work, raising families and living your lives, the governor and her pals are tirelessly working behind the scenes to cram the mega prison down our throats. They’ve paid millions to woke California “consulting” companies like Vanir, who already are cashing in. Hard-working Arkansas citizens will be left holding the mega prison scam bag.
Written and submitted by Senator Bryan King
State Capitol Week in Review
Senator King was on the CBS Evening News “Eye on America” on July 15, 2025. In the portion, Senior National Correspondent Mark Strassmann traveled to Senator King’s cattle farm in Green Forest.
Senator King says he has his concerns about fluoride in the drinking water. However, his biggest concern is that this is a state mandate out of Little Rock and not a local decision. The residents of Eureka Springs voted against fluoride twice, and also against it in an informal poll conducted through water bills. Senator King went on to say that during his time in office the biggest issue with healthcare has been trust. According to CBS, 19 states are deliberating on whether or not to remove, ban or make optional fluoride in drinking water.
This episode of CBS Evening News Eye on America featuring Senator King can be viewed on YouTube or X.
I think the prison is going to used to house deportations and more. This prison is not just for your regular law breaker. Then if the current establishment does what there saying about the homeless, the mentally ill they are going to make these things illegal and scoop up who they see fit and put them in prison. Scary times right now.
I appreciate your insight on this mega prison. I hope you continue to keep us informed, and I hope you answer my question; since funding has been voted down repeatedly, the estimated cost has doubled, and they don’t have a sufficient water source, why is our government paying millions of our dollars to consulting companies to plan building it?