Juvenile offenders being housed at the local county jail are wreaking havoc, damaging the facility and provoking staff members. Who is behind the recent rash of destruction and headaches? Four adjudicated juveniles.
Although the juvenile population is small, Warden Jacqueline Morton said the four juveniles are causing major disruptions at the Yazoo County Regional Correctional Facility. She, along with consultant Jerry Williams, approached the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors last week, begging for help in finding another location to house the juvenile offenders.
“They are a real problem,” Morton said. “Just a couple of weeks ago, they tore up the sprinkler system. They are tearing everything up. They are breaking out. They are doing everything you can think of, and we must go in there every day. I do make my rounds, but if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have to go in there as much.”
Morton said the area housing the juvenile offenders demands her attention two to three times a day.
“All of my available staff are up in there because they are always doing something,” Morton added. “They are even flooding the cells. They are a major problem.”
Last week’s discussion is not the first time the subject of housing local juvenile offenders has been brought to the county board. The topic was investigated last April.
When it comes to housing the offenders at the local juvenile detention center versus the county jail, federal law states that is not an option. Judge Betsy Cotton, with the county youth court, said if she were to accept juveniles charged with adult crimes into the local detention center, the facility would be shut down. She said that any juvenile who is charged with a crime that would result in life imprisonment or the death penalty as an adult offender cannot come to the detention center.
During last April’s discussion, the suggestion of the former county jail on Mike Espy Drive was met with concern from some county officials who said the former site is in bad shape. However, the former dispatch center site was brought back to the table last week.
“We are possibly looking at the old dispatch center as a place to try to deal with these adjudicated youth offenders,” Williams said. “With that site, we can have classes. You got recreation. They (juvenile offenders) would be over there by themselves, and you won’t have to worry about separating them or something happening to them. They would not be housed with adult offenders. If we could get that open over there, it would help because right now, it’s a problem.”
Sheriff Jeremy McCoy said he paid a visit to the former jail, and he admits there is work needed to be done at the former facility. But he added that it was “nothing major.”
“It is going to need some work, but it is not in terrible shape,” McCoy said.
Emergency Management Director Jack Willingham added that the major renovations needed at the former center involved plumbing, but he said the structure itself is in suitable condition.
“If you could just get the front of that building ready with the holding cells, that would work,” Willingham said. “If you try to move in the back of the building, that is where it is going to get expensive.”
A possible agreement with the city of Yazoo City could also be an option. Williams said a memorandum of understanding suggested that the county and city could “swap” its inmates.
“The city wants us to house their adult inmates, and they would house our children,” added Supervisor Joseph Thomas Jr.
“I just wonder if the math would balance out,” replied Board Attorney Jay Barbour. “Let’s say they are housing five of our juveniles, but we are housing 15 of their folks. It wouldn’t balance out.”
Of the four juveniles being housed at the local county jail, only one is considered a county offender. The remaining three are city cases.
But Willingham said the possible agreement has more loose ends to it.
“If they are holding inmates at the police department, you (the county) are going to have to take everybody they bring in immediately, all through the night,” he said. “They will have to go to the county jail because you will not be able to house them in the same area with the juveniles. And the city would have to have somebody to watch them. It can’t just be a dispatcher.”
“I would much rather do that than what we are doing now,” replied McCoy.
Wright said it is time for the county board to put some teeth into the matter.
“One of the main problems is that these juveniles are tearing up stuff,” said Supervisor Willie Wright. “It is costing the county more and more money. As a board, we are going to need to do the work to see what we can do. Whatever we need to do, we need to get it done. We can’t just let them keep doing what they are doing.”
Morton begged the county board to remain committed to finding a solution.
“With the staff, they try to do any little thing, knowing that there is nothing we can do to them,” she said. “If an officer walks past, they are reaching and grabbing their radios. I must keep the flaps closed because they are fishing for stuff.”
But it is about the juveniles’ safety as well.
“I just don’t want one of our adults to get a hold of one of the juveniles,” Morton said.
“We worry about the adults because they travel in packs,” added Williams.
“My fear is one of the grown men doing something to them,” Morton continued. “The children are not even supposed to be over here. This is a major problem and a major issue.”
