The head of Arkansas’ Board of Corrections says he’s staying despite governor’s call for resignation
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called for the immediate resignation of Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness in the latest round of a dispute over who runs the state’s prison system. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Magness, in response, said he intends to finish his term, which ends in two years. The dispute stems from the Sanders administration moving forward with opening 622 temporary prison beds that the board has not approved. Members of the board have said the move would jeopardize the safety of inmates and staff. On Wednesday it asked that 138 National Guard members be deployed to work full-time in the state’s prisons to “help fill in staffing gaps.”