County jail to house 75 more state inmates

MILLARD Pearl River Countys jail soon will house up to 75 more state inmates as they participate in a program that will help them beat drug and alcohol dependency before they are released.

The program is administered under the Mississippi Department of Corrections and will generate about $300,000 in additional revenue for the county, said Chief Deputy Shane Tucker.

Within a month all of the state prisoners will have arrived at the jail and begin the program. Tucker said the Pearl River County jails recent accreditation by the American Correctional Association has enabled the jail to participate in the program. Tucker said the only other facility in south Mississippi qualified to run the program is in Leakesville in Greene County.

The program is a mandate by MDOC before state inmates are released from jail, and uses an intensive drug and alcohol rehabilitation curriculum to help break inmates dependency on such substances, Tucker said.

Approval of this program by Commissioner Christopher Epps enables the jail to hold up to 75 more state inmates. MDOC will pay the county $20 per day per inmate. Tucker said after the expenses have been factored in to cover each inmates housing, food and the expense to hire the two specialists who will inaugurate and run the program, the county will net an additional $300,000 that will go to the general fund.

Any medical needs for the inmates will be paid for by the state, Tucker said.

Nine months is required to complete the program, and Tucker said once a group of inmates complete the program, another group will be shipped in immediately. While the jail has been approved to house up to 75 inmates for each rendition of the program, Tucker expects the average number of state inmates in the program to be between 60 and 75.

Inmates participating in the program will be housed in a separate dorm from the rest of the jail population inside the Millard facility. Inmates in this program housed at the jail will be primarily non-violent offenders on their way to completing their prison sentence, Tucker said.

This will be their light at the end of the tunnel as far as their release goes, Tucker said.

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County jail to house 75 more state inmates