Arkansas CURE is one of many organizations that is networking resources and leveraging ideas into tangible benefits for all.
Members of the panel include Judges Gary Arnold and Cristi Beaumont, specialty court judges; Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder; Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady; Little Rock Police Chief Kent Buckner; President and Chief Executive Officer of Counseling Associates Inc. and Medicaid provider Steve Newsome; Medicaid provider Robin Raveendran; Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, state Senate Judiciary chairman; Rep. Matthew Shepherd, state House of Representatives Judiciary chairman; Arkansas Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness; Arkansas Parole Board Chairman John Felts; Department of Corrections Director Wendy Kelley; Arkansas Community Corrections Director Sheila Sharp; and at-large members Attorney John Wesley Hall, Attorney Tjuana Byrd and business proprietor Drew Baker.
Senate President Pro Tem Jonathan Dismang and House Speaker Jeremy Gillam will each have an appointee to the task force, Hutchinson’s spokesman J.R. Davis said in a statement.
The council will meet for the first time at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Big Mac Building behind the state Capitol, according to the statement.
Hutchinson appointed the council as part of the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2015, Act 895, that was passed during the regular session that officially ended last Wednesday.
