The Yazoo County jail continues to receive bills for Yazoo City inmates being housed at facilities outside of the county. And county supervisors remind city leaders that they are not responsible for those bills based on the mutual agreement concerning the housing of inmates.
“I told the city that they are going to mess around and lose a good arrangement,” said Supervisor Joseph Thomas Jr., during Monday’s county board meeting.
Warden Jacqueline Morton, with the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility, presented a bill from the Issaquena County Jail to the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors. She said the city inmate was placed at the Issaquena County Jail with Yazoo City forwarded her the bill, citing the mutual agreement signed last December.
“You don’t need to present that to us,” Thomas said. “We ain’t paying that. We only deal with the ones we house. If we are not housing them, then it is not our concern.”
This same kind of issue happened last February with a Yazoo City inmate who was taken to the Warren County Jail. Warren County officials were expecting the $2,000 bill to be paid. But by who was the question.
According to the mutual agreement, a municipal inmate is considered Yazoo City’s responsibility until they are bound over to the Grand Jury. At that point, the inmate becomes Yazoo County’s responsibility, which includes all housing, medical and other related expenses.
“That is what (Yazoo City) keeps banking on,” said Jerry Williams, county jail consultant. “They think once they are bound over, no matter who took them in, that we are responsible for them.”
When the matter was first brought to the table last February, Board Attorney Jay Barbour said the agreement states that “any city inmate who is housed at our facility is a city inmate until they have been bound over. Upon being bound over, such prisoners held at our facility should then be considered a county prisoner with the city no longer responsible for them. They must be housed at our facility for them to be our responsibility.”
“I would take the position that if the city sends an inmate to the county jail and they then leave and go somewhere else, then they are no longer our responsibility,” Barbour said, in that previous meeting. “You have to be housed at our facility to be our responsibility.”
Supervisor Willie Wright said Yazoo City has been well informed about the technicalities of the mutual agreement.
“The city knows that we are not paying for anything goes outside of Yazoo County,” Wright said. “It seems like they keep doing the same thing. Do we need to send our board president (Thomas) over to their board meeting to explain this to them?”
Thomas said he has already explained it to Lilli Evans-Bass, the city board attorney, and to Mayor David Starling.
“I told them that we are only responsible for the ones we are housing,” Thomas said. “If they are not being held in our facility, then we are not responsible for them. I have made that clear to the mayor and Mrs. Bass.”
“They can keep sending those bills if they want,” added Wright. “A lot of things don’t happen now because some people in there are coming out, and they don’t want to get involved.”
Wright was referring to the municipal election, with the new officers arriving on the city council next week.
“There is a word we use for that, but we aren’t going to use it in here,” Wright said.
“A lame duck,” came from the audience.
“I wasn’t going to say that, but that is exactly what it is, right there,” Wright replied.
