After another month of working to reduce inmate overcrowding, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance had some bad news to report to the Board of Supervisors: there are still too many prisoners, and not enough space.
Lance told the board at their November 3 meeting that he had sent a second report to Ron Welch, a Jackson attorney who monitors prison conditions for the state.
That report, said Lance, contained counts that showed the jail over capacity all but seven days during the month of October.
Lance and County Administrator Rufus Warren were asked by the board in October to bring figures for building a new facility. However, Lance said finding property to build the jail was the first step, and he had yet to find anything suitable.
Lance and Warren were still looking, though, and said that once land was located the estimate process could begin. He estimated that the new jail would need at least 200 beds to meet current and future needs.
He had told the board last month that one of the dangers of overcrowding was losing state prisoners, who provide the county with several hundred thousand dollars of labor every year.
He did not say at the most recent meeting whether any prisoners had been taken by the state.
Lance has assured the board that he was not easing up on making arrests to control the numbers, but was using other tactics, such as asking the state to transfer inmates to other facilities more quickly after sentencing.
No board action was taken on the matter. All board members were present for the meeting.
Email News Editor Melissa Turner
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