Video: County Officials Keep up Pressure on Workers Program

[syndicaster id=’5805728′]

JACKSON, MS (AP)- Sheriffs, county officials and others say they will keep up the pressure on Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher to reverse his decision to close a program that sends some inmates to county jails.

Local governments say they depend on free labor from inmates and could have to raise taxes to replace it.

Fisher plans to close the programs Aug. 1, saying the move would save the state money and ease his concerns about how some sheriffs run their jails.

Meeting with sheriffs Tuesday, Fisher offered to let inmates remain in the county facilities, on condition that the state no longer pays $20 a day per inmate to counties.

Sheriffs say they can’t afford to shoulder those costs, in part because some counties borrowed money to build jails for the state inmates.