Amy
04-21-2004, 07:41 PM
By Andy Kanengiser
akanengiser@clarionledger.com (akanengiser@clarionledger.com)
Mississippi counties would continue housing state inmates in county jails for a fee through July 2006 under a bill awaiting House action.
The Senate has amended House Bill 403, dubbed the Prison Overcrowding Emergency Powers Act, to keep the practice alive another two years.
More than 2,000 state inmates are housed in county jails.
The bill faces a Friday deadline, and House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said he won't stand in the way if the Senate passes a bill to increase the capacity at a private prison in his district.
Earlier this session, Malone refused to call up another House bill that would have continued the practice, but at a reduced rate.
If lawmakers do not pass the prison legislation, counties would receive no money from the state for housing state inmates as of July 1. Counties stand to lose thousands of dollars. Hinds County would lose about $1 million annually.
Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Bunky Huggins, R-Greenwood, Senate President Pro Tempore Travis Little, R-Corinth, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, filed a suspension resolution to revive the issue.
Malone said he let House Bill 405 die after he didn't think there would be enough support for his proposal to trim the reimbursement to counties from $20 to $15 per prisoner. Cutting the rate would have saved millions of dollars for the Department of Corrections, Malone said.
Earlier, the Senate Corrections Committee killed a bill to increase the 750 maximum security inmates at the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility to 1,000. The facility was built to house inmates under the age of 21.
Huggins said he believes the Senate would be willing to boost Walnut Grove's capacity as Malone requested. "We don't have the money, but can give them the authority to go to 1,000,'' Huggins said Tuesday. "I think we can work it out,'' he said of the county jails legislation. Senate Corrections Committee member Johnnie Walls, D-Greenville said Tuesday it's important to keep the state inmates in county jails at the current reimbursement rate "to keep us out of court.''
Source: Jackson Clarion Ledger http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040421/NEWS01/404210394/1002 (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=aa3b7ec9c32dbb60cde97d56d72e1cc9&lat=1082593546&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eclarionledger%2ecom %2fapps%2fpbcs%2edll%2farticle%3fAID%3d%2f20040421 %2fNEWS01%2f404210394%2f1002)
akanengiser@clarionledger.com (akanengiser@clarionledger.com)
Mississippi counties would continue housing state inmates in county jails for a fee through July 2006 under a bill awaiting House action.
The Senate has amended House Bill 403, dubbed the Prison Overcrowding Emergency Powers Act, to keep the practice alive another two years.
More than 2,000 state inmates are housed in county jails.
The bill faces a Friday deadline, and House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said he won't stand in the way if the Senate passes a bill to increase the capacity at a private prison in his district.
Earlier this session, Malone refused to call up another House bill that would have continued the practice, but at a reduced rate.
If lawmakers do not pass the prison legislation, counties would receive no money from the state for housing state inmates as of July 1. Counties stand to lose thousands of dollars. Hinds County would lose about $1 million annually.
Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Bunky Huggins, R-Greenwood, Senate President Pro Tempore Travis Little, R-Corinth, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, filed a suspension resolution to revive the issue.
Malone said he let House Bill 405 die after he didn't think there would be enough support for his proposal to trim the reimbursement to counties from $20 to $15 per prisoner. Cutting the rate would have saved millions of dollars for the Department of Corrections, Malone said.
Earlier, the Senate Corrections Committee killed a bill to increase the 750 maximum security inmates at the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility to 1,000. The facility was built to house inmates under the age of 21.
Huggins said he believes the Senate would be willing to boost Walnut Grove's capacity as Malone requested. "We don't have the money, but can give them the authority to go to 1,000,'' Huggins said Tuesday. "I think we can work it out,'' he said of the county jails legislation. Senate Corrections Committee member Johnnie Walls, D-Greenville said Tuesday it's important to keep the state inmates in county jails at the current reimbursement rate "to keep us out of court.''
Source: Jackson Clarion Ledger http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040421/NEWS01/404210394/1002 (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=aa3b7ec9c32dbb60cde97d56d72e1cc9&lat=1082593546&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eclarionledger%2ecom %2fapps%2fpbcs%2edll%2farticle%3fAID%3d%2f20040421 %2fNEWS01%2f404210394%2f1002)