LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Board of Corrections Interim Secretary Eddie Joe Williams resigned from his corrections post on Tuesday.
“The Governor appreciates Eddie Joe Williams’ service and respects his decision to do the right thing and follow the law,” Governor’s Spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement. “The Board of Corrections knows that it is only the governor who selects and nominates the secretary.”
Williams was voted unanimously into the position by the board on Jan. 31 in the first regular meeting since a series of court battles with the state and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Twenty four hours after Williams was named interim secretary, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin penned a letter to Williams encouraging him to decline the appointment.
In the letter, Griffin said that Arkansas law states that the board had “no such authority” to appoint an interim secretary and that the position doesn’t exist within the Department of Corrections.
“Sen. Williams made the right and honorable decision by refusing to accept the illegal appointment offered by the Board of Corrections,” Griffin said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I appreciate and applaud his clarity of thought and strength of character at a critical and undoubtedly stressful time.”
In his resignation letter, Williams said he was “unable to accomplish” his duties and would “step aside.”
“For the good of Arkansans, I hope the environment we find ourselves in can be quickly resolved so we can go about the business of making Arkansas the safest place it can be,” Williams said.
Williams was originally selected to replace Joe Profiri, who was the governor’s choice for secretary of corrections and was fired in early January for what the board described as insubordination and being uncommunicative.
Profiri vowed to override the Board of Corrections’ objections and expand the number of beds without their approval.
The argument between the Sanders administration and the board has been an ongoing feud since November when Sanders asked the Board of Corrections to approve a request for 500 additional prison beds to help with overcrowding issues.
However, the board argued they were hesitant to add the requested beds due to staffing and overcrowding issues. Additionally, the board cited safety concerns for both staff and inmates if the beds were added.
The rated capacity is 15,022 for state prisons and there are currently 16,292 people in prison as of November 17, 2023. Around 1,895 are in county jails awaiting a bed in a state prison.
In the same meeting where Williams was named interim secretary, the Board of Corrections approved adding 124 beds at the Tucker Re-entry Center only after a sufficient amount of new staff had been hired.
The fight over how quickly to expand prison space has prompted several lawsuits between the board and the Sanders administration.
