2018 Arkansas Code
Title 16 - Practice, Procedure, and Courts
Subtitle 6 - Criminal Procedure Generally
Chapter 93 - Probation and Parole
Subchapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 16-93-104. Supervision fee -- Direct payment by offender -- Failure to pay

(a)

• (1) Any offender on probation, parole, or transfer under supervision of the Department of Community Correction shall pay to the department a monthly fee of thirty-five dollars ($35.00).

• (2) The Director of the Department of Community Correction or his or her designee shall deposit:

  • (A) Twenty-five dollars ($25.00) of each payment received into the State Treasury as special revenues credited to the Community Correction Revolving Fund; and

  • (B)

    • (i) Ten dollars ($10.00) of each payment received into the Best Practices Fund, § 19-5-1139, to ensure evidence-based programs and supervision practices are available to offenders supervised on either probation or parole.

    • (ii) The Board of Corrections shall promulgate regulations for the accounting and distribution of the Best Practices Fund to ensure that:

      • (a) No less than seventy-five percent (75%) of the funds are used by the Department of Community Correction for direct services to the offender population it supervises that have been proven, through research, to reduce recidivism among the offender population served;

      • (b) The direct services may be provided by the Department of Community Correction, the Department of Human Services, and community-based vendors meeting these criteria and serving offenders being supervised by the Department of Community Correction; and

      • (c) No more than ten percent (10%) of the funds are used to train staff managing the offender population in evidence-based practices.

• (3) Expenditures from the Community Correction Revolving Fund shall be used for continuation and expansion of community correction programs as established and approved by the Board of Corrections.

(b)

• (1) When an offender on probation defaults in the payment of supervision fees or any installment thereof, the court may require the offender to show cause why he or she would not be imprisoned for nonpayment.

• (2) The offender shall not be imprisoned if the offender is financially unable to make the payments and states so to the court in writing, under oath, and the court so finds.

• (3) Unless the offender shows that his or her default was not attributable to a purposeful refusal to obey the sentence of the court or to a failure on his or her part to make a good faith effort to obtain the funds required for payment, the court may order the defendant imprisoned until the payments are made.

• (4) If the court determines that the default in payment is not attributable to the causes specified in subdivision (b)(3) of this section, the court may enter an order allowing the offender additional time for payment, reducing the amount of each installment, or revoking the fees or the unpaid portion thereof in whole or in part.

(c)

• (1) The offender on parole may be imprisoned for violation of parole if the offender is financially able to make the payments and if the payments are not made and the Parole Board so finds, subject to the limitations set out in this subsection.

• (2) The offender shall not be imprisoned if the offender is financially unable to make the payments and states so under oath to the Parole Board in writing, and the Parole Board so finds.

(d) Court costs under § 16-10-305 shall be collected in full before any fees are collected under this section.