Turning the unclaimed portion of Delta Correctional Facility into a regional jail could save the former private prison from closing a second time should Mississippi's budget woes continue, a consultant told the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
"There are a lot of advantages to having a regional jail," Ed Hargett of Corrections Management Services said Monday.
The arrangement would benefit both the county and the state while occupying the 720 beds that will remain empty once the new county jail moves into a portion of the former private prison, he said.
At an average per diem rate of $24.90, regional jails save the state money, he said. It cost about $29 a day to house inmates in Delta Correctional when it was a private prison, and the average cost per day in state facilities was $37.88 in 2002.
And the money coming into Delta Correctional as a regional jail would go directly to the county. The facility could then become a mechanism to fund the $5.9 million in bonds the county has committed for renovating Pod F as a jail.
"You need some type of revenue source to pay off the bonds for the renovations you're making out there," said Hargett, a former superintendent at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
He noted also that a regional jail would employ about the same number of people who worked at Delta Correctional before it closed.
The idea of turning the shuttered prison into a regional jail was raised last week by state Sen. Bunky Huggins, R-Greenwood, at a legislative preview sponsored by the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce. The county would need lawmakers' approval to move ahead with a regional jail plan, adding to legislation already in place authorizing the county jail.
The conversion would put the county in step with what Gov.-elect Haley Barbour has in mind for the state's corrections system. During his campaign, Barbour came to the courthouse and promised to reopen Delta Correctional. He maintains the state can save money by locking up more inmates in private prisons and regional jails.
Corrections Corp. of America, the company that managed Delta Correctional before it closed, has made overtures to the county about reopening the private prison, according to Hargett. But, he said, considering recent corrections policy, a regional jail would be a much more stable investment.
When a budget emergency hit the Mississippi Department of Corrections last year, the solution came down hardest on the private prisons with the closure of Delta Correctional, Hargett explained.
"No regional jail in this state - and right now there are 11 of them - none of them closed," he said. "They cut back on the number of their inmates temporarily, but right now, they're back up to where they were."
Supervisors expressed concern that assuming the financial responsibility of the entire facility could end up being a money pit. The conversion of a portion of the medium security prison into a county jail was initially projected to cost $1.9 million. But the price tag ballooned from there when supervisors learned the security system, including locks and doors, needed to be upgraded to house maximum custody inmates.
"We took one halfway secure building out there, building F, and it's costing us a ton just to harden it up. Now, we're going handle the rest of the 780 beds?" Robert Moore, the board's president, asked.
District 1 Phil Wolfe said whatever becomes of the facility, the county should deliberate carefully before reaching a decision.
"I like the idea about bringing revenue into the county, but my only concern is I would hate to float $20 million worth of new bonds in order to get this up to speed in order to pay off $4 million worth of existing bonds," said District 1 Supervisor Phil Wolfe.
Hargett said he didn't know how much work the conversion would involve. But it wouldn't require a security upgrade because the jail would be getting medium-custody inmates, which he says make up 70 percent of the inmate population.
Sheriff Ricky Banks supports the idea. A regional jail could dovetail with plans to move his department, along with the county jail, to Delta Correctional. Right now, pans for the new county jail do not include a kitchen. Occupying the full prison would allow the county to make use of the cooking facilities already out there, Banks said.
"If it takes $1 million to fix it up, I think they'll make that back in a year or two," said Banks. "The governor already said he's going to open it back up anyway, so I think we need to take advantage of it."
Also Monday, the board appointed Greenwood attorney Alix Sanders to the Greenwood-Leflore Airport board. The position, which has been vacant for more than a year, is a joint appointment between the county and the city of Greenwood. It now goes to the City Council for approval.
