Former Arkansas prison system leader says state has infrastructure to address overcrowding

Joe Profiri, who was fired two years ago as the head of the state’s corrections department over a dispute with the state Board of Corrections, told lawmakers Tuesday that Arkansas already has the policy infrastructure in place to address persistent overcrowding in its prisons. Profiri, now a senior adviser to Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, appeared before the House and Senate judiciary committees as they held the latest in a series of hearings to discuss prison overcrowding. Arkansas’ growing prison population is driven in large part by high rates of recidivism, according to experts and department data. It marked Profiri’s first appearance before legislators since 2025. Profiri faced criticism from some lawmakers for not appearing at a hearing last year to discuss Sanders’ proposal for a 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County that the governor has since put on hold.

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