Leflore County supervisors are considering using a company to help collect unpaid debts and give Justice Court judges a few more sentencing options.
Judicial Correction Services Inc. (JCS) provides services such as probation and court fine collection.
Using the private probation company would cost the county nothing. The person on probation would be responsible for a flat fee of $40 per month and a one-time setup fee of $10. Indigent people may be served at no cost to them or the county.
“There’s a couple of reasons to do this,” Justice Court Judge Jim Campbell told the county supervisors this week. “One reason is collection of fines, which we’ve had some issues with. If we get someone on this probation program, they will follow them to make sure they pay their fine and collect old fines. We have plenty of them; I can’t tell you exactly how much, but it’s a right smart number.”
Wayne Self, president of the Board of Supervisors, said he hoped if people heard they were looking into collecting back fines, they may be quicker to pay them on their own.
Campbell said the agreement between the Justice Court and JCS would only provide an extra option for sentencing and wouldn’t necessarily need to be employed in every case.
“I could have used it a number of times as opposed to, say, incarcerating somebody, which would cost us money,” he said. “I’m not saying some people don’t need to be incarcerated, but it should be a last resort.”
JCS already works with 14 courts in Mississippi and about 200 in the southern United States. Bolivar County, Carroll County, Greenwood Municipal and Clarksdale Municipal are among local courts that have implemented the service.
Supervisor Phil Wolfe made a motion to move forward with an agreement between Leflore County and JCS.
Supervisor Robert Moore said he has a concern about charging too much.
“I agree we need some mechanism to deal with this,” he said. “My concern is that this is a fine on top of a fine.”
After Moore expressed concern, Wolfe withdrew his motion. Moore asked Campbell to “let us go and talk to our folks and see how they feel.”
Campbell assured him that the option would be exercised carefully and in situations that were appropriate to the county and citizens. “I’m not looking to heap any more misery on the poor,” he said.
The supervisors agreed to delay action until they could gather a consensus from the public.
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
