Ark. Code Ann. § 16-93-708 (2026)

1. As used in this section:
   1. “Approved electronic monitoring or supervising device” means an electronic device approved by the Board of Corrections that meets the minimum Federal Communications Commission regulations and requirements and that utilizes available technology that is able to track a person's location and monitor his or her location;
   2. “Hospice” means an autonomous, centrally administered, medically directed, coordinated program providing a continuum of home, outpatient, and homelike inpatient care for the terminally ill patient and the patient's family and which employs an interdisciplinary team to assist in providing palliative and supportive care to meet the special needs arising out of the physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and economic stresses that are experienced during the final stages of illness and during dying and bereavement;
   3. “Permanently incapacitated” means an inmate who, as determined by a licensed physician:
      1. Has a medical condition that is not necessarily terminal but renders him or her permanently and irreversibly incapacitated; and
      2. Requires immediate and long-term care; and
   4. “Terminally ill” means an inmate who, as determined by a licensed physician:
      1. Has an incurable condition caused by illness or disease; and
      2. Will likely die within two (2) years due to the illness or disease.
2. 1. 1. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (b)(2) of this section, a defendant convicted of a felony or misdemeanor and sentenced to imprisonment may be incarcerated in a home detention program when the Director of the Department of Correction or the Director of the Department of Community Correction communicates to the Parole Board when, in the independent opinions of either a Department of Correction physician or Department of Community Correction physician and a consultant physician in Arkansas, an inmate is either terminally ill, permanently incapacitated, or would be suitable for hospice care and should be considered for transfer to parole supervision.
      2. The Director of the Department of Correction or the Director of the Department of Community Correction shall make the facts described in subdivision (b)(1)(A) of this section known to the Parole Board for consideration of early release to home detention.
   2. The Board of Corrections shall promulgate rules that will establish policy and procedures for incarceration in a home detention program.
3. 1. In all instances in which the Department of Correction may release any inmate to community supervision, in addition to all other conditions that may be imposed by the Department of Correction, the Department of Correction may require the criminal defendant to participate in a home detention program.
   2. 1. The term of the home detention shall not exceed the maximum number of years of imprisonment or supervision to which the inmate could be sentenced.
      2. The length of time the defendant participates in a home detention program and any good-time credit awarded shall be credited against the defendant's sentence.
4. 1. The Board of Corrections shall establish policy and procedures for participation in a home detention program, including, but not limited to, program criteria, terms, and conditions of release.
   2. An inmate who is not serving a sentence of life without parole who is released on parole under this section because he or she is terminally ill, permanently incapacitated, or would be suitable for hospice care may be released to the care of his or her family or to a friend or a facility, subject to board approval.
5. If the medical condition of an inmate who is released under this section because he or she is terminally ill, permanently incapacitated, or would be suitable for hospice care changes to the point that the inmate is no longer terminally ill, permanently incapacitated, or suitable for hospice care, the inmate shall be returned to the custody of the Department of Correction and shall be required to be reconsidered for parole.

History. Acts 1991, No. 263, §§ 1-3; 1991, No. 307, §§ 1-3; 2005, No. 680, § 3; 2011, No. 570, § 104; 2013, No. 1335, § 5; 2015, No. 895, § 27.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2011, No. 570, § 1, provided: “The intent of this act is to implement comprehensive measures designed to reduce recidivism, hold offenders accountable, and contain correction costs.”

Acts 2015, No. 895, § 1, provided: “Legislative intent. It is the intent of the General Assembly to implement wide-ranging reforms to the criminal justice system in order to address prison overcrowding, promote seamless reentry into society, reduce medical costs incurred by the state and local governments, aid law enforcement agencies in fighting crime and keeping the peace, and to enhance public safety.”

Amendments. The 2005 amendment substituted “Board of Corrections” for “board of correction” in (a); inserted present (b); redesignated former (b) and (c) as present (c) and (d); and substituted “Corrections” for “Correction” in present (d).

The 2011 amendment added “Parole alternative” in the section heading; inserted the introductory language of (a), the (a)(1) designation, (a)(2), and (a)(3) (now (a)(3) and (4)); added “the Director of the Department of Correction ... considered for transfer to parole supervision” at the end of (b)(1)(A); deleted (b)(1)(A)(i) and (b)(1)(A)(ii); and substituted “Department of Correction” for “department” in three places in (c)(1).

The 2013 amendment substituted “utilizes available technology that is able to track a person's location and monitor his or her location” for “is limited in capability to recording or transmitting information as to the criminal defendant's presence in the home” in (a)(1).

The 2015 amendment inserted (a)(2) and redesignated the remaining subdivisions accordingly; in (b)(1)(A), substituted “communicates” for “shall communicate” and inserted “or would be suitable for hospice care”; substituted “in which” for “where” in (c)(1); inserted designation (d)(1); and added (d)(2) and (e).