Published: October 08, 2008 12:13 pm            

County to house Lauderdale inmates

NEWTON — “We are not housing felony inmates that is something I want to make perfectly clear,” Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight told the Board of Supervisors Monday. “We are only housing misdemeanors, inmates who are in contempt of court.”

This subject came about when Newton Sheriff’s Department had a temporary agreement to house Meridian inmates at the price of $20 per day per inmate after the City of Meridian declared a state of emergency.

The reason being, Lauderdale County and the City of Meridian haven’t agreed on a price to house city inmates at the county jail. In the past, the county had charged $23 a day but have decided to up the price to $30 which the city does not agree with.

“They called and asked me if I would help them out and I told them sure if it is where we can and the board agrees,” Knight said. “I understand the City of Meridian was pushed to a deadline to have all municipal prisoners in the county jail returned to the city.”

Knight told the board he can work those inmates with the county system and all medical bills would be charged to Meridian.

“It is not like with the state they take the medical bills out of our budget and then the state is supposed to reimburse us,” Knight said. “This will be charged strictly to them, we are not responsible for their medical bills. We did say we would transport them to the doctor in Decatur if there was an emergency, or to the emergency room.”

Knight told the board records would be kept on their inmates on how many days and hours they worked.

“This will let them know when their fines are paid off and it will be up to them,” Knight said. “I think it will be a good thing to work with them, and again let me say we are not housing any felony cases, no murderers, rapists, burglars or violent crime inmates. I would not put the citizens of Newton County in any danger.”

President of the Board Charles Moulds asked Knight if an inmate got sick would it tie up a deputy all day?

“If it gets to that point where we are tied up with a prisoner, well we just can’t do that,” Knight said. “As long as we don’t lose money. We are all in this together, anytime someone asks me to help, if I can help them I have no problem with doing that. I have gotten help from Neshoba and Clarke counties at times myself.”

When the question was asked to Knight how many inmates did he have in jail right now, Knight said there was about 35 and the jail would hold about 70 inmates.

The board said they were in agreement with Knight and approved the decision to house the inmates. Board Attorney Jason Mangum said it would still have to be approved by the Attorney Generals Office.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.