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| Lee County working on jail overcrowding |
| By BY EMILY LE COZ - Daily Journal |
| Published: 02/16/2009 |
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NorthEast, Mississippi Overcrowding has plagued the county jail since the 202-bed facility opened a decade ago, and while officials here acknowledge the problem, relief is still several years away. The Lee County Board of Supervisors has agreed to expand the Tupelo/Lee County Adult Jail but hasn't yet approved a plan. Supervisors say they hope to have one by summer, but construction could take two or three years to complete, said District 1 Supervisor Phil Morgan, who heads the board's jail-expansion team. "It's a very complex project," Morgan said, explaining that several entities will get involved before the expansion begins. One such agency is the U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Corrections, which met with local government officials and toured the facility in January at the request of the Lee County Sheriff's Department. The agency helps justice officials nationwide find better ways to streamline their operations and solve problems - like crowded jails. Lee County hasn't yet received its report from that visit, but Sheriff Jim Johnson said he's been briefed on the findings: "It just confirms what we already know," he said. "It will say you're out of options, you've got to add." The current jail was built in 1997, but even back then it barely met the community's needs after its original plans - 300 beds - were scaled back. Daily inmate tallies typically range between 200 and 250, and the jail remains full "99.9 percent of the time," Johnson said. "We shuffle them around the best way that we can. We can only do so much. We've been this way for a while." Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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