By Josh Mitchell/Informer Publisher
A 110-bed expansion to the Marion County Jail is expected to be completed in February.
Marion County Sheriff Berkley Hall told the Informer today that he has concerns about state budget cuts adversely impacting public safety.
Gov. Haley Barbour has proposed letting up to 4,000 inmates out of jail as a means of saving money, and Hall said he disagrees with granting violent offenders an early release. But Hall said there may be some cases when it would be OK to let nonviolent offenders out before their sentences are completed.
Barbour has cut the Mississippi Department of Corrections budget by $23.3 million. The Clarion-Ledger reported on Saturday that Barbour is trying to prevent releasing inmates early and cover the budget cut with federal stimulus funds.
Hall said he has received no official word from the state to release inmates early from the Marion/Walthall County Correctional facility. The county currently operates the detention facility that holds 242 male state inmates and a separate facility for women that holds 93 inmates.
Hall said if the state requires the release of some inmates it will mean less revenue coming back to the county. The state pays the county $29.74 a day to house the first 200 inmates and $20 a day for any inmates over 200. The fee that the county charges the state to house an inmate includes three meals a day.
The county went into debt building a regional jail thinking the state would keep inmates at a certain level in order to pay off the facility, said Hall.
The state recently took eight inmates out of the Marion/Walthall County Correctional facility and moved them to other facilities in an attempt to save money. However, Hall said there is no way the state can house inmates for any less than what Marion County is charging.
Hall said the state could release some inmates and put them on house arrest, but he added that operating a house arrest program also costs money.
Rather than cut public safety such as the prison system and the Highway Patrol, Hall said the state should consider using money from the rainy day fund. “We don’t have enough Highway patrolmen in Marion County to start with,” Hall said.
