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| Senators reviving inmate housing bill |
| By Clarion Ledger |
| Published: 04/19/2004 |
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Several key Mississippi senators have started the process to revive legislation that would guarantee counties will continue to be paid for housing state inmates in county jails. A House bill to reduce the payment from $20 per day per inmate to $15 daily died last month, but Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Bunky Huggins, D-Greenwood believes there is strong support among lawmakers to keep the reimbursement at $20. "This is too important to the counties and the Department of Corrections," Huggins said. Many counties have relied on the money since the late 70s. Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin has said Hinds County stands to lose about $1 million if the fee is cut. He said he houses nearly 100 state inmates. But if lawmakers don't approve the annual extension, counties will no longer be receiving any payment for housing state inmates beginning July 1. Huggins, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, and Senate President Pro Tempore Travis Little, R-Corinth, have introduced a suspension resolution to give the Senate more time to develop its own bill and get something adopted before the Legislature adjourns May 9. A vote in that chamber is likely soon. If nothing is done "we'd have to pick up inmates'' and send them to private or state prisons at greater costs, Huggins said. "County jails are the cheapest way to house inmates." Sending state inmates from county jails to the newly reopened private Delta prison in Greenwood beginning July 1 would not be an option, Huggins said, because that facility will largely be filled with inmates from old camps being closed at the State Penitentiary at Parchman. Presently, more than 2,000 state inmates are housed in county jails. |
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