Arkansas Board of Corrections Chair Jamie Barker (right) and board member Lee Watson (left) during a special board meeting on Jan. 23, 2026. (Photo by Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate)
The Board of Corrections voted Monday to accept the Arkansas attorney general’s settlement offers requiring the panel to say laws taking away the panel’s ability to hire or fire top prison officials are constitutional and to state that board members violated open-records laws.
The settlements approved by a 4-3 vote could end a legal fight that began when the board sued Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2023. The panel had challenged two state laws it argued weakened the board’s constitutional authority…