Dear Editor,
The old saying, “you get what you paid for,’’ is exactly what is wrong with the Yazoo County jail.
The Board of Supervisors have always wanted to operate the facility as cheap as possible, including salaries for the jailers that work there. How can several inmates escape and the jailers have to be made aware of this by deputies that just happened to drive up to the center at night? Were the jailers asleep or what?
The Sheriff himself and his deputies are doing a great job on the streets, county roads, and in the community. Yet the county jail obviously is running itself. The Board of Supervisors have hired the employees there from day one and wanted to operate it the way they saw fit, including setting the pay scale.
By state statue, the county jail falls under the control of the Sheriff himself. He can, at any point, can go to the jail and run it the way he believes is safer and more effectively. If the board won’t take corrective action at the facility, then maybe it’s time for the facility to actually be ran like a jail and not a motel.
Again, our Sheriff hit the ground running since taking office, and he and his deputy staff are doing exactly what they need to do. I know first hand that the correctional facility can make or break even the best of Sheriffs. I’m sincerely hoping he will see the problem with the present safety concern for the community and take back total control of the jail. It makes no sense to lock up the crooks and drug dealers and then let mismanagement cause them to escape back to the streets. Do what you need to do Bull and know that we are all behind you in this.
Sincerely,
Thomas Vaughan
