Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (2026)

Place of imprisonment

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section JustiaArk. Code CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Except as provided in §§ 5-4-304 and 16-93-708, a defendant convicted of a felony and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the custody of the Division of Correction for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.
Except as provided in § 16-93-708, a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the county jail or other authorized institution designated by the court for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.
Except as provided in § 5-4-304 or § 16-93-708, a defendant convicted of a felony violation of §§ 5-64-419 — 5-64-442 and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the custody of the Division of Correction for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.
1. 1. A juvenile sentenced in circuit court who is less than sixteen (16) years of age when sentenced shall be committed to the custody of the Division of Youth Services until his or her sixteenth birthday, at which time he or she shall be transferred to the Division of Correction, except as provided by court order or parole decision made by the Parole Board.
  2. Any record from the Division of Youth Services shall be transferred to the Division of Correction at the time the juvenile is transferred.
2. A juvenile less than sixteen (16) years of age who is awaiting transfer to the Division of Correction shall be segregated from the general delinquency population housed at the Division of Youth Services.
1. With the consent and approval of the Division of Youth Services, the Division of Correction may transfer from the Division of Correction to the Division of Youth Services any inmate less than eighteen (18) years of age who, in the opinion of the Division of Correction and the Division of Youth Services, is more suited and adaptable by age, physical size, and temperament to a program of the Department of Human Services.
2. 1. An inmate transferred to the Division of Youth Services shall be segregated from the general delinquency population housed at the Division of Youth Services.
  2. If an inmate violates a rule of the Division of Youth Services' program or facility or is otherwise not amenable to the Division of Youth Services' rehabilitative effort, the Division of Youth Services may return the inmate to the Division of Correction.
3. Any inmate transferred to the Division of Youth Services under this subsection shall be returned to the Division of Correction on the inmate's eighteenth birthday.

History. Acts 1975, No. 280, § 902; 1985, No. 982, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-902; Acts 1999, No. 1192, § 11; 2001, No. 559, § 9; 2005, No. 680, § 2; 2011, No. 570, § 18; 2011, No. 1120, § 4; 2019, No. 910, § 657.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2011, No. 570, § 1, provided:

“Legislative intent. The intent of this act is to implement comprehensive measures designed to reduce recidivism, hold offenders accountable, and contain correction costs.”

Amendments. The 2011 amendment by No. 570, in (c), inserted “§ 5-4-304 or” and “felony,” and substituted “§ 5-64-419 — § 5-64-442 and sentenced to imprisonment” for “§ 5-64-401.”

The 2011 amendment by No. 1120 deleted “5-4-203” preceding “§ 5-4-304” in (a).

The 2019 amendment substituted “Division of Correction” for “Department of Correction” and “Division of Youth Services of the Department of Human Services” for “division” and similar language throughout the section.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev.

Survey of Legislation, 2005 Arkansas General Assembly, Criminal Law, 28 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 335.

Case Notes

Jurisdiction.

Circuit court lacked jurisdiction to consider the appeal, because the petitioner's allegation, in reality, was a challenge to the calculation of his parole eligibility and the Arkansas Department of Correction's application of a parole-eligibility statute to his sentence, and the judiciary had no jurisdiction over how parole eligibility was determined or the conditions to be placed on it once the sentence was placed into execution. Johnson v. State, 2012 Ark. 212 (2012).

Cited: Cannon v. State, 265 Ark. 270, 578 S.W.2d 20 (1979); Oliver v. State, 14 Ark. App. 240, 687 S.W.2d 850 (1985); Sossamon v. State, 31 Ark. App. 131, 789 S.W.2d 738 (1990).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 8 cases, 1990–2017 · leading case: Lenard v. Kelley, 2017 Ark. 186 (Ark. 2017).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Lenard v. Kelley, 2017 Ark. 186 (Ark. 2017). · cites it 4× “Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (b) (Repl. 2006) (a defendant convicted of a felony shall be committed to the Arkansas Department of Correction); see also Jones v.”

Richie v. State, 357 S.W.3d 909 (Ark. 2009). · cites it 2× “See Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-402(a) (Repl.2006) (“[A] defendant convicted of a felony and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Correction for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.”

State v. Stapleton, 51 S.W.3d 862 (Ark. 2001). · cites it 2× “See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (a) (Supp. 1999); Ark.”

Sossamon v. State, 789 S.W.2d 738 (Ark. Ct. App. 1990). · cites it 2× “Therefore, we reduce appellant’s sentence for the Class A misdemeanor to imprisonment for one year to be served, as provided in Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (2) (1987) for defendants convicted of a misdemeanor, in the county jail or other authorized institution designated by the…”

Andrews v. State, 424 S.W.3d 349 (Ark. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (b) (Repl.2006); Young v.”

Smith v. Hobbs, 2014 Ark. 286 (Ark. 2014). · cites it 2× “Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-402(a) (Repl. 2006), parole eligibility is within the domain of the executive branch, specifically the ADC.”

Brown v. Hobbs, 2014 Ark. 315 (Ark. 2014). · cites it 2× “Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-402 (a) (Repl. 2006), parole eligibility is within the domain of the executive branch, specifically the ADC.”

Watson v. State, 2015 Ark. 84 (Ark. 2015). · cites it 2× “; see Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402 (a) (Repl. 2006) (“[A] defendant convicted of a felony and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Correction for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.”

— Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-402(a) — 2 cases

Richie v. State, 357 S.W.3d 909 (Ark. 2009). “See Ark.Code Ann. § 5-4-402(a) (Repl.2006) (“[A] defendant convicted of a felony and sentenced to imprisonment shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Correction for the term of his or her sentence or until released in accordance with law.”

Smith v. Hobbs, 2014 Ark. 286 (Ark. 2014). “Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-4-402(a) (Repl. 2006), parole eligibility is within the domain of the executive branch, specifically the ADC.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.