Lee County Tax Dollars and Inmates

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Justice Court Judges in Lee County are making several proposals they say could save money when it comes to housing inmates at the jail.
The plans come weeks after supervisors voted against a new facility that would have meant a tax hike for county residents.

Lee County Justice Court Judge Chuck Hopkins believes ankle bracelets could monitor non-violent offenders.

Hopkins says it would cost about $4 a day to monitor inmates, compared to $25 a day keeping them in jail.

“There’s a lot of studying to be done before we can just go and do it,” Judge Hopkins said.

Hopkins and District 3 Judge Sadie Holland are trying to find ways to reduce the inmate count at the Lee County jail and save money.

County Attorney Gary Carnathan wants an opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General to see which offenders could wear the ankle monitors, before moving forward.

Hopkins says it would not be for every inmate.

“Just keep it misdemeanor, talking about traffic violation people, misdemeanor crime people, no felons, nothing like that, misdemeanor, regular working class folks out of jail, that got ticket for DUI, speeding, whatever you know,” Hopkins said.

Jail overcrowding is the primary reason Sheriff Jim Johnson proposed a new facility, but supervisors voted that down and asked for a new plan.

Since then, the sheriff has let some inmates out on bond and reduced inmate numbers by refusing to house some prisoners from other municipalities.

Johnson says all alternatives were studied before he asked for a new law enforcement facility. He says there are a lot of questions about the Judge’s proposal.

“At what point are you looking at placing the ankle monitor on the individual, is at the point of arrest, or conviction. If it’s conviction, where a person goes to justice court and are sentence to x amount of days in jail, and instead of them being in jail, they will wear ankle monitor, that’s not a problem to me, because we don’t house, I don’t have anybody in jail today sentenced by justice court,” Sheriff Johnson said.

Another option would create a work release program, similar to the city of Tupelo’s.

Right now, county inmates who are eligible to work their fines off, stay overnight at the work center, on Front Street. Judge Hopkins says allowing those inmates to go to their homes nightly, while being monitored with the ankle bracelets, would save more tax dollars.

It could be a month or so before the county receives an opinion from the Attorney General’s office on the ankle monitoring proposal.