Mississippi Sheriffs: There’s Not Enough Money Or Inmates

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Not enough money and not enough inmates.

That’s what sheriffs who operate regional jails are telling lawmakers.

Now, counties must find a way to change the budget numbers to keep the jails operating.

Roughly 400 state inmates are being taken from the fifteen regional facilities across Mississippi.

A recent meeting in Jackson, with MDOC and lawmakers, didn’t solve the growing problems there shrinking budgets are facing.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections did not get the money it wanted to help fund regional jails.

Winston County Sheriff Jason Pugh says the lack of money won’t be as dramatic at his regional facility, as it will be at others across the state.

That’s because the county paid off the building last year, but it still has to be maintained.

“Our facility is 21-years old. It needs constant maintenance, up-keep. Different things could go wrong. Control boards, camera systems, electronics, you know, you’re dealing with 20-year old equipment.”

The Winston Choctaw jail has 270 state inmates, but can actually hold 300.

The jail’s new contract pays the county $23.90 a day, per state inmate.

About $6 less, than just a few years ago.

It basically boils down to a little over $2 million a year for the county, but it needs $3 million to run the jail.

“The more money we have to put into our correctional budget, the less money there is to put into road, bridges, fire and police protection. I mean, there’s only so much tax money to go around and the more tax money we end up having to spend on housing our inmates in our county jail, the less money there is for other things.”

Pugh says the county hopes to just break even in the deal.

“If there are inmates that can be housed in a regional correctional facility, fill these regional’s up first and then send your overflow to your private prisons. Keep as much in Mississippi as we can possibly keep in Mississippi.”

County leaders have to keep an eye on the county budget because no changes will be made before the next legislative session.

“We don’t really go through budgeting until July, June, July, so we’ve got a little time to see how this is going to play out,” says Winston County Board of Supervisors President Luke Parkes.

Parkes says the shortfall will fall in the lap of voters.

“Who is going to pay for it? The taxpayers of Winston County, and when you’ve got a private facility over here that’s fully funded, that the Legislature has fully funded, well, why not fully fund the ones in the state of Mississippi first and make sure they’re at capacity and then go somewhere else.”

MDOC started moving inmates to various facilities this past weekend.

The Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility faces losing 90 state inmates, which means a loss of more than $600,000 in revenue.