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| 5 Miss. Jails Fail Court Rules |
| By clarionledger.com |
| Published: 06/29/2009 |
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5 Miss. jails fail court rules Deficiencies cited that must be fixed to house state inmates Jimmie E. Gates- June 29, 2009 At least five jails across the state have been prohibited from housing state inmates, and that could mean a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as inmate labor for public projects, officials say. Prisoners rights attorney Ron Welch, who monitors jails housing state inmates as part of a federal court order, inspects jails annually to determine if they will be approved to house state inmates. The disapproval letters went out to the counties this month. Each jail was given at least a year and some two years to correct deficiencies, Welch said. Jails affected: - Calhoun County, which had been allowed to house a maximum of 22. - Holmes-Humphreys County Jail, which had been allowed to house a maximum 18. Holmes-Humphreys Regional Corrections Facility, which had been allowed to house a maximum 280 states inmates, can house no more than 250 now. -Pontotoc County, which had been allowed to house 26. - Sunflower County, which had been allowed to house 9. - Tippah County, which had been allowed to house 10. Counties receive $20 per day per inmate in county jails and about $29.74 per day per inmate for those housed in regional jails. State inmates housed in county jails often provide free labor to municipalities and counties in the form of building and property maintenance, construction, litter clean-up and beautification projects to roads, parks and other public property, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Welch said the inmates are performing a tremendous value for counties and should be treated right. "I don't want to disapprove jails, but if they don't follow the order, we have no choice," Welch said. Welch said officials of any of the jails can petition him to reopen the case at anytime if they have made progress in complying with earlier orders. Department of Corrections Commission Chris Epps said the bottom line is that a lot of the counties need more jail space and money. Welch faulted Calhoun County's planning for its state-county work center and for not contracting for on-site inmate medical complaints. Holmes County also was cited for not having a separate joint state/county work center and for not having a paved outdoor exercise area for prisoners. "I really wish Ron Welch or the court would give us an extension," Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said Friday. March said the county has blueprints for a work center and has been working on the exercise area. "It will have a tremendous financial impact," March said. Holmes County had been allowed to keep 18 state inmates at its county jail. March said he recently had about 16 state inmates above the 250 capacity at the regional facility prior to the order. With the disapproval, no state inmates can be kept at the county jail, and the limit of 250 can't be exceeded at the separate Holmes-Humphreys Regional Correctional Facility. Pontotoc County also has not begun a required joint work center.Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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