Hon. Mike Huckabee Office of the Governor State Capital Rm. 250 Little Rock, AR 72201 August 22, 2005 Dear Governor Huckabee, I have recently become aware of some of the problems and ignored injustices occurring within the Arkansas correctional facilities, namely the East Arkansas Regional Unit. I believe the general public and our officials are not fully aware of the treatment and every day conditions many inmates endure. These men and women are convicted of a variety of crimes, taken away, placed in a cell for society to forget about while they serve their time to pay for the crime of which they are convicted of. First and foremost, it must be a scary thought for inmates to know there is no separation of violent and non-violent offenders. This just increases the possibility of violence and endangers the lives of individuals convicted of non violent crimes. Just this month an inmate was brutally stabbed to death at the East Arkansas Regional Unit by a fellow inmate while distributing toiletry items to cells. The weapon was a broken piece of metal from an air conditioner. A young man was unjustly murdered by a violent offender. As a family member of an inmate at this facility I worry knowing the same could happen to my brother or anyone else. Therefore, I would like to ask for you help in protecting our non violent offenders from potentially dangerous prisoners. Regarding the conditions I mentioned, currently inmates are forced to work in extreme heat on hoe squads where they endure mental abuse from prison guards supervising and timing their work, counting how many times an inmates dull hoe hit