Alcorn County Jail Warden Resigns

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A lobbyist for a private prison company is resigning as warden of the Alcorn County jail.

Irb Benjamin has told Alcorn County supervisors he will step down Dec. 1. That action Thursday came several days after an inmate escaped from the jail for the second time.

Supervisors’ president Lowell Hinton says Benjamin told the board the jail might need fresher eyes after the escape.

Benjamin, who’s also a former lawmaker, did not immediately return a call Monday.

Hinton tells The Associated Press that Benjamin was hired for a no-bid contract to run the jail about a year ago. Hinton says he didn’t know how much the county paid Benjamin and Mississippi Correctional Management Inc., the company for which Benjamin is a lobbyist.

The supervisors’ attorney could not immediately be reached.