Arkansas Board of Corrections Chair Jamie Barker (right) and board member Lee Watson (left) during a special board meeting on Jan. 23, 2026. (Photo by Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate)
The new chairman of the panel overseeing Arkansas’ prison system requested permission from the attorney general Tuesday for the board to hire a new attorney to represent it in two lawsuits.
The request prompted a response from a member of the panel, who said a court had already ruled the board did not need permission to hire a new attorney for the board.
The exchange is the latest development in a two-year-old fight over who controls the state’s prison system. The balance of power on the seven-member board recently tilted in Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ favor. The panel is now controlled by a majority appointed by the Republican governor.
That majority voted two weeks ago to fire Abtin Mehdizadegan, the attorney hired by the board in 2023.
Chairman Jamie Barker wrote in a letter to Attorney General Tim Griffin Tuesday that he was sending the request in accordance with state law following the board’s vote to fire Mehdizadegan’s law firm, Hall Booth Smith, which he said was hired “illegally.”
However, some board members and Mehdizadegan himself have disputed that he was hired illegally.
A ruling issued by a Pulaski County Circuit judge who heard the first of the two lawsuits involving the board explicitly stated that it has the power to hire its own legal counsel. That case was filed by board members in 2023 to challenge state laws that removed their authority over top corrections officials, which were struck down.
Sanders has appealed the ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court. The justices have not yet issued a ruling.
The second lawsuit, filed by Griffin after the board hired the attorney, argues that Mehdizadegan’s hiring was illegal. The judge in that case has not yet issued a final ruling, but several attempts to disqualify Mehdizadegan as the board’s attorney have failed in circuit court and before the Arkansas Supreme Court.
In his letter to Griffin, Barker cites a section of state law that requires state agencies to be represented by the attorney general’s office unless it determines a special counsel should be hired instead. Griffin’s response agreed with this. According to that particular section of law, Sanders would have to approve hiring an outside attorney for a state agency or official that the law applies to.
But the ruling from Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Patricia James said that the board was considered a constitutional board entitled to hire its own special counsel under a different section of law. The order does not specifically prohibit the board from obtaining approval from Griffin and Sanders.
In legal filings in Griffin’s separate lawsuit against the board filed prior to James’ ruling, attorneys working for Griffin’s office have disputed that the board is covered by that section of law, asserting that they are still subject to the process being used by Barker to hire an attorney to replace Mehdizadegan.
Board member Lee Watson pointed to James’ ruling in an email to the other board members Tuesday afternoon, arguing that James’ order allowed them to hire counsel without the governor’s permission. Watson was reappointed by Sanders’ predecessor Asa Hutchinson, and was one of the three board members who voted not to fire Mehdizadegan.
Under the section of law cited by Griffin and Barker, the letter to the attorney general requesting to hire new legal counsel was the first step; he requested Sanders “appoint or authorize” the new attorney.
“In the Amendment 33 case (the lawsuit filed by the Board of Corrections) the Governor is a named defendant and it would be absurd to put the Governor in the position of choosing counsel for the party that sued her,” Watson wrote in his email.
To view this story, or for more news updates from Arkansas Advocate, click here.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI