TEXARKANA - At the Miller County jail, even the mop handles are under scrutiny.
After a year marked by 13 escapes and nearly as many arrests of guards who stand accused of supplying inmates with sex, drugs and other contraband, the new sheriff has vowed a complete overhaul.
Ron Stovall, who took office this month, has immediately started the transformation thathe hopes will bring relief to the community and restore the agency's credibility.
So, in a locked conference room, sit brooms, buckets and other cleaning items that were rounded up and taken out of reach of inmates. The wooden handles, too easily fashioned into weapons, will be replaced by safer ones that are designed to break if used forcefully.
And that's just a minor detail in the top-to-bottom makeover that Stovall and the group ofveteran lawmen he lured out of retirement have planned.
"We're assessing every aspect," said Stovall, a retired captain with the Arkansas State Police. "We've started a system of accountability."
The new team is writing new policies on employee conduct, planning mandatory monthly training and evaluating every protocol in the 72-member agency.
Even symbolic changes arein order, such as new uniforms with a new logo and new titles: The warden is now the jail administrator and guards are detention deputies.
"I think in about 90 days he'll have it under control," said Justice of the Peace Ernest Pender, who is part of the chorus singing the new team's praises. "I think we're very fortunate to have them."
Pender and other county officials just as easily praised Stovall as they criticized former Sheriff Linda Rambo, who resigned before her first term ended amid a state police investigation into improper use of a county truck.
But to many, the damage was already done by the time she left office in November.
Fights behind bars became such a problem that the prosecutor began making criminal cases against inmates to help calm the violence since discipline problems weren't being handled at the jail. And by the year's end, nine corrections employees had been charged with crimes. Several others had been suspended or fired for misconduct, including having sex on the job.
Rambo's critics said she was too lenient with staff and inmates, whom she used to reward with special in-person visits with family and smoke breaks outside.
"I think she was in over her head," said Joe Gillenwater, a Quorum Court member and former lawman.
Attempts to reach Rambo were unsuccessful. Calls to a listed phone number went unanswered.
SECURITY A PRIORITY
Stovall began ushering in changes before even getting his badge and keys.
He sent out letters to staff members who were being reassigned and recruited six retirees with decades of law enforcement experience, including a former FBI agent.
With the new team in place, he is largely focused on security.
Every lock and passcode in the East Street building is being changed. Each employee is undergoing fresh background checks and new employees will be subjected to more digging.
The flimsy ceiling tiles in the jail that inmates have destroyed and used to stash items will likely be removed or revamped.
A top-of-the-line camera system will soon be installed. New, experienced jailers are set to begin work this week, meaning for the first time in months all 28 corrections slots will be filled.
And two men with decades of federal prison experience are now running the jail that houses around 250 inmates.
"This task that lays in front of us is a monumental task," said Charles Neff, a 63-year old retired federal prison guard who is now jail administrator.
Already the new team is being tested.
The first weekend of the new year and new administration, four inmates broke out a cell window, retrieved a couple of sacks from the fenced yard, then climbed back in the building where their scheme was uncovered, investigators said.
"At least we got them back," said investigator Don Thornell, who served as interim sheriff after Rambo resigned. "That's better than what we've had."
Indeed, between February and November of last year, the jail logged 13 escapes. One inmate broke out twice last year, first fleeing to Arizona and then hiding out in a Texarkana neighborhood until authorities found him. Some inmates were on the run for days or weeks, while others were caught in the yard.
All have since been captured.
Neff and detentions Maj. Gary Turner, who has spent time working death row in Texas prisons, say they expect a complete turnaround. But, they warn it will take time.
"In a penal setting, you have to be careful about changes immediately," Neff said, noting that inmates will eventually be subject to thorough and frequent "shakedowns" in an effort to curbthe proliferation of contraband.
SIGNS OF CHANGE
Some changes are already apparent.
Inmates have been ordered to take down their "tent cities" - makeshift cardboard forts that surrounded the bunks. And Turner has spent time talking toinmates, gathering information that may lead to more crackdowns.
"They know change when they see it," he said after chatting with a group of inmates.
When prosecutor Brent Haltom went to court last week each inmate was shackled at the feet and wrists. And one highrisk inmate - Demarcus Cooks, who has fled the jail three times - was monitored by an extra corrections officer.
The officer sat so close to Cooks, Haltom said, that the repeat offender facing a slew of new charges complained that the guard could overhear him speaking to his lawyer.
"I said, 'Thank the Lord,'" Haltom said, noting he had repeatedly asked the previous administration to use more precautions when taking inmates to court.
He said the inmates' wrists were secured with disposable handcuffs - the kind commonly used in large raids. Steel ones are on order.
"That's pretty cheap for saving somebody's life," he said.
But some of the changes are more costly.
The new camera system, for instance, is expected to cost far more than county officials were anticipating, though they declined to give numbers until all the bids are in. A new food vendor also will be a new expense. But officials say a professional food service with staff equipped to supervise and train inmates will add a level of security that was lacking.
"It may not save us money, but it will prevent liability," said Pender, chairman of the county's finance and jail committees.
He said the county is willing to listen to any of Stovall's spending requests and do what it takes to "get the jail up to standards."
How much money that will take is unclear so far, he said.
For Michael Mauldin, who at 62 came out of retirement to be Stovall's chief deputy, the payoff will be an agency to brag on.
Mauldin, a longtime investigator with theTexarkana, Texas, police, is reviewing criminal investigations and getting to know staff. He is planning improvements wherever necessary.
"I'd like to see this sheriff's department become the best sheriff's department in Arkansas," Mauldin said.
"It's a challenge," he continued. "But I kind of like the challenge."
Front Section, Pages 1, 2 on 01/12/2009