By JEFF AMY
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s prison system is removing some inmates from county-run jails to save money, but sheriffs are protesting the reductions.
Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall announced Thursday that the department is moving 400 inmates housed in regional jails back into state-run prisons.
The inmates were sent to counties after parts of South Mississippi Correctional Institution were closed.
Hall says the department can’t afford to pay counties to house the inmates because it didn’t receive $3.6 million it requested from the Legislature.
The head of the Mississippi Sheriffs’ Association says the move hurts counties because sheriffs depend on state revenue to pay for jails.
Sheriffs are scheduled to meet Monday with corrections officials. Clarke County Sheriff Todd Kemp says they will ask the prison system to remove some inmates from privately-run prisons.
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