LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Pulaski County Quorum Court is joining the conversation around the controversial Netflix series "Unlocked: A Jail Experiment."
The show's trailer came out two weeks ago, raising questions about how Pulaski County Sheriff Eric Higgins approved the project.
On Tuesday, Pulaski County Quorum Court passed an ordinance requesting answers from the sheriff about filming in the jai. All quorum court members told us they didn't know about the filming until the trailer was released.
County officials said the problem was that they were unaware of any filming or agreements signed.
"There's nothing wrong and everything right with sheriffs trying unique social experiments in jail," said Phil Stowers, a Pulaski County Quorum Court member. "I believe in criminal justice reform, but he could have done everything he did without turning our jail into a reality TV show."
The ordinance compiles 40 questions for Higgins to answer, including where filming took place and who is on camera throughout the series, as well as any signed contracts, agreements and release forms.
The court has given him five days to provide them with this information.
Higgins declined to comment.
"It doesn't make us look good," Pulaski County Quorum Court Member Paul Elliott said. "I mean words like that and those problems—I mean, that's not good for anybody, any county."
Higgins has until the end of next Wednesday to get the questions answered and to the court. If he doesn't, the court will consider it a violation of the law and hand it over to the prosecuting attorney.
The county attorney is helping Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde get outside counsel for any legal issues that arise from this. The attorney said he also sent the sheriff a letter recommending he do the same.