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DecARcerate is organizing in partnership with a coalition of lawyers, local activists, and partner organizations to resist, delay, and disrupt the state’s efforts to expand the prison system in Arkansas. 

Not One More Cell

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Click here to read our official statement opposing prison expansion.

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What's Happening

The 2023 legislative session was among the worst in recent memory and massively expanded the carceral state in Arkansas. Legislation was passed enhancing sentences and eliminating the possibility of parole for the majority of Arkansans moving forward. This will undoubtedly lead to longer sentences for incarcerated people and massively increase the prison population. To facilitate this change in the law, Arkansas legislators began proposing a 3,000-bed supermax prison. 

 

On October 31, 2024, the Sanders Administration announced the next phase of this endeavor, the purchase of an 815-acre property for $2.950 million in Charleston, AR. The land purchase happened without community participation or transparency. This January, Arkansas will enter the 95th General Assembly, and we fully expect prison expansion of the legislative session.  

 

This $1 billion expansion of the prison system would come at a profound economic, environmental, and moral cost and have momentous consequences for decades to come.

We are working in coalition with lawyers, activists, and directly impacted people to delay, resist, disrupt and halt these efforts.

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