Sheriff Jake Sheriff says the city and county have a plan in place to continue using inmate labor after the Community Work Center closes.
Sheriff and Yazoo City Police Chief Jeff Curtis recently met with the Mississippi Department of Corrections about closing of the local work center, which provides free inmate labor to the city and county. The Yazoo CWC is expected to close sometime between March and May.
Sheriff said the CWC inmates may be housed at the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility as long as they remain separated from the county inmates.
“At one point they were requiring us to build a separate building, but now it is acceptable if we just keep them separated,” Sheriff said.
Sheriff said the county and city must pay for the inmates meals, which only comes to $3 per day per inmate.
“That sounds too good to be true, but that’s what they told us,” Sheriff said.
The county will pay for the meals of the inmates used for county work projects, and the city will pay for the meals of inmates used by the city.
There will also be a $3,000 inspection fee. Sheriff said Curtis said the city can split the cost with the county.
Cobie Collins, president of the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors, said it will be much cheaper to continue using inmates to do the work they have been doing than paying minimum wage.
In other business during the Friday Board of Supervisors meeting:
* A Yazoo City radio station owner asked the Board of Supervisors to take down the state flag at the Courthouse Friday.
Joseph Thomas Jr., who planned to lead a protest at the Courthouse Monday that was canceled due to rain, urged the Board of Supervisors to remove the flag from county property.
“I am curious to know why we still fly this relic of racism in our county,” Thomas said.
Collins said a majority of Mississippians voted to keep the current state flag.
“When the voters voted, I think the population was about 60-40,” Thomas said. “I never thought the minority would outvote the majority.”
Thomas said Yazoo County’s population is majority black, and he believes most residents are in favor of changing the flag.
“I think we should take a leadership role in taking down the county,” Thomas said. “Other counties
“You need to get it on the ballot,” District 4 Supervisor Jayne Dew said.
Thomas pointed out that the Yazoo City Mayor and Board of Aldermen recently voted unanimously to ban the state flag on city property. He said the county should follow the city’s lead.
Some of the other Mississippi cities that have taken down the state flag include Vicksburg, Oxford, Hattiesburg, Greenville, Clarksdale, Columbus and Magnolia.
The state flag was the topic of much controversy in Yazoo County in 2008 after it was removed from the flag pole at the Courthouse. It was restored after many residents appeared before the board in support of the state flag.
The board took no action on the issue Friday.
“We appreciate your opinion,” Collins said.
* A Yazoo County resident urged the county to put more deputies on patrol.
Mike Frazier asked the Board of Supervisors Friday to consider increasing the Sheriff’s Department’s budget.
“They need some help bad,” Frazier said. “I know budget money is short everywhere.”
Frazier said over the weekend there was a wreck with injuries near Benton.
“While that wreck was in progress they had a trespasser call, somewhere else in the county, and while that was going on there was another wreck on Highway 3,” Frazier said. “They only had two deputies on duty.”
Frazier said he believe citizens would be willing to accept the costs for the additional protection.
“I think the citizens would gladly pay some extra taxes,” Frazier said. “To my knowledge y’all have not raised taxes and have done fantastic. I think the citizens greatly appreciate that.”
Dew said she agrees that the county needs more deputies on patrol, and she hopes the board can find a way to afford the cost.
“We know everything you’re saying is true, and it’s not falling on deaf ears,” Dew said. “We have a lot of things going on right now, and we are trying to do the best that we can to stay within the budget we have without going into debt.”
“We’ve talked about trying to move some things around,” said District 2 Supervisor David Berry.
