FOREST, MS - While supervisors look for another site to build a new jail for Scott County, the current one received some relief last week.

Sheriff William S. Richardson announced the arrival of a mobile-type unit that will be connected to the jail to provide additional space for housing inmates. The jail's current capacity is 38 beds, which would increase by 12 to 50 beds when the new addition is completed.

The 10-ton unit was delivered Friday after it was built with inmate labor at the state penitentiary in Parchman. The addition is expected to be connected to the current jail within the next two to three weeks, Richardson said.

"This will add some relief," Richardson said. "But it is temporary. It is not meant to replace the jail. We still need a new jail."

The unit normally costs more than $30,000, but the price tag for Scott County was approximately $27,500. Richardson said between $8,000 and $10,000 was deducted from the price based on the design of the unit.

"We only took what was absolutely needed," Richardson said of the unit's design.
The unit arrived at a time when supervisors are looking for a new site to build a new county jail. Supervisors are also looking for a project manager for the new jail after Harold Jones stepped down from the position recently. Jones will continue his position as jail administrator on Richardson's staff.

In a meeting Tuesday, supervisors heard a proposal from White Construction Company of Ridgeland, which offered to serve as a consultant in the jail project. Malcolm Marsh and Reed Nelson discussed White Construction's offer to help manage the project, making sure that the project's budget would be met and providing that personnel would be present at all times to oversee the project.
Marsh said the company has helped build between 18 and 20 jails including the juvenile facility in Walnut Grove and jails for Coahoma, DeSoto, Tunica, Bolivar counties as well as the East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian.

Marsh also noted that White Construction already has a strong working relationship with Pryor and Morrow, an architect firm that the county hired to design the new jail.

Supervisors are waiting for test results from soil samples at one of two sites under consideration for the jail. Citing exemptions from the state open records law, supervisors have not identified the locations under consideration, but have said they are near Forest.

Proposed designs include a 160-bed jail and justice center combined into one project. The justice center would include the sheriff's department and courtroom facilities.

Roger Pryor and Maxey Peterson of Pryor and Morrow had provided a rough estimate of approximately $8 million to $10 million as a price tag for the project, which would include $1.2 million for the justice center, if the facility were built from scratch.

The first option of adapting the current Wal-Mart when it is vacated was eliminated earlier this spring when the county's $300,000 bid was not accepted. Wal-Mart was reportedly asking approximately $680,000 for the current 45,000 square foot building. Scott County was one of six bidders vying for the property. Wal-Mart declined to negotiate with the county to find an agreement for the property.

A new jail was proposed in response to overcrowding and a federal lawsuit involving Scott County.