The Mississippi Department of Corrections closed Yazoo City’s Community Work Center Friday, leaving the city and county without free inmate labor that has been used to provide services from cleaning public buildings to helping maintain the cemetery.
The town of Bentonia also used inmates from the Community Work Center, which housed 35 inmates at the time of its closing.
The eight staff members at the local center have been relocated to positions at other MDOC facilities.
Marshall Fisher, MDOC commissioner, said the work center was closed due to staff shortages.Yazoo’s work center is the third to be closed by MDOC in less than a year.
Fisher blames low pay for staff shortages.
“Until we are able to provide livable wages for all employees, we likely will continue to have staffing issues agency wide,” Fisher said.
MDOC still operates 14 community work centers, but the Bolivar County facility in Rosedale and the Jackson County facility in Pascagoula are expected to close soon.
Fisher said municipalities and counties should no longer heavily rely on inmate labor due to a dwindling eligible inmate population.
County officials, led by Sheriff Jake Sheriff, worked with MDOC to try to reach an agreement that would allow the work center inmates to be housed at the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility, but the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors said Monday that the terms MDOC requires would be more than the county can afford.
