MDOC lockdown impacts Lee County Work Center inmates

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) -A state-mandated lockdown for MDOC inmates at prisons across Mississippi is having an impact on some work details in Lee County.

Although there have been no disturbances at the Lee County Jail, nonviolent MDOC inmates, housed at the County Work Center on Front Street, are under the lockdown.

That means the MDOC prisoners cannot take part in work details, such as trash pickup, county vehicle maintenance and other projects until the lockdown is lifted.

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said inmates must be treated humanely and strict measures must be in place for a jail to be safe.

“That’s why we do the search, when a person comes in, although you get sued for it, people say, you’re violating somebody’s rights, you don’t have a right to search, it’s all done for safety, that’s what it’s done for, we do random shakedowns in jail, we find shanks, knives, we don’t allow anything to be brought in from the outside to our jail,” said Sheriff Johnson.

Sheriff Johnson said inmates have many privileges when they are brought to the jail.

However, any inmate who breaks the rules can lose privileges.