Arkansas

The Arkansas Division of Correction (ADC) runs about 20 state prison units, from large agricultural prisons to specialized medical and reception units. The ADC is one part of the Arkansas Department of Corrections; a separate Division of Community Correction handles parole, probation, and community centers. These guides cover the ADC state prison system. The agency uses the term inmate.

The line between a state prison and a county jail is the offense and sentence: people convicted of felonies and sentenced to state time go to ADC, while people awaiting trial or serving short local sentences are held in county jails (run by the county sheriff). Arkansas has a long-standing backlog: because the prisons are crowded, a person sentenced to ADC may remain in the county jail for a while before a bed opens, and they do not appear in the ADC system until ADC actually takes them in.

Newly sentenced people are processed at a reception unit first — men at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern, and women at the McPherson Unit in Newport — before being assigned to a long-term unit, so the unit shown in the inmate search can change in the first weeks. Arkansas’s male death row is housed at the Varner Supermax Unit, and the state’s execution chamber is at the Cummins Unit.

To find where someone is held, search the ADC Inmate Population Information Search by name or ADC number. If a person does not appear there, they may still be in a county jail (including state-sentenced people waiting for a prison bed) — check the county sheriff’s roster. Arkansas also takes part in VINE for custody and release alerts.

Two recent changes matter for families: since September 2025, personal mail is scanned off-site rather than delivered on paper (see the mail guide), and video visitation is moving to a remote, app-based system (see the phone and video guide). ADC publishes relatively little operational detail online — visiting hours and call rates, for example, are usually not posted — so the guides below note where to call or check directly.

A few small work-release and re-entry centers, and the recently opened Dr. Mary L. Parker-Reed Women’s Health Unit in Little Rock, are not covered individually here — ADC publishes little about them, so contact the facility or use the inmate search.

Use the guides below for the statewide rules at ADC units, or go straight to a specific facility.