Hinds County Considers Legal Action Against MDOC
2015/05/19 – Hinds County owes $9.4 million on its Joint State-County Work Center, leaving county officials to discuss legal action against the MDOC over the agency’s plans to move state inmates from the program.
Hinds County owes $9.4 million on its Joint State-County Work Center, leaving county officials to discuss legal action against the Mississippi Department of Corrections over the agency’s plans to move state inmates from Joint State-County Work Programs.
MDOC Commissioner Marshall Fisher has announced plans to remove state inmates from the Joint State-County Work Programs to state-owned community work centers. The transfer is scheduled for Aug. 1.
In 2009, Hinds County opened its new inmate work center in an agreement with MDOC to house up to 195 non-violent state inmates. The new center was built specifically to be able to house the state inmates, according to then-Sheriff Malcolm McMillin.
The state currently pays counties $20 per day per state inmate in the work centers. The number of state inmates varies at such centers, but the average in the Hinds County center is about 45 daily. The inmates provides free labor for public service projects in a county.
On Monday, Hinds County supervisors met with Board Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen behind closed doors to discuss possible litigation against the state over the Joint State-County Work Program.
No official action was taken in the executive action. Board of Supervisors President Peggy Hobson Calhoun said Tuesday she personally doesn’t believe the county can sue MDOC because there was no official contract between the state and county.
“We built it in good faith,” Calhoun said of the center. “It’s a debt service that we are obligated to pay.”
Calhoun said the county will look at alternatives for the center if the state moves the inmates.
Hinds County Chief Deputy Chris Picou said Tuesday he hopes the county will take legal action against MDOC.
“We still owe $9.4 million in debt on the center,” Picou said. “That is why it would be so detrimental to Hinds County.”
Prisoners rights attorney Ron Welch said the state won’t save money by switching inmates to the 17 state-owned community work centers.
Originally, when the agreement was signed between Hinds County and MDOC, the state agreed to keep 195 inmates in the center. The number dwindled over the years because of MDOC budget restraints.
Fisher has said he will be able to redirect $3.2 million to other budgetary needs as a result of moving inmates from the programs in 30 counties. However, Fisher said the decision to remove the inmates wasn’t based strictly on saving money.
“One of my most significant duties is to be a good steward of taxpayers’ money,” Fisher said. “As such, eliminating the JSCWP will be a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars, with public safety of the utmost concern.”
However, sheriffs in those counties with a Joint State-County Work Center are adamantly opposed to the closure of the joint work centers. The Mississippi Sheriffs Association and the Mississippi Association of Supervisors are opposed to the state moving inmates from the centers.
Fisher has a meeting scheduled for June with officials of the Sheriffs Association and the Association of Supervisors to discuss his plan.
Source: The Clarion-Ledger
