By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
Dec. 6, 2000
DEKALB A Mississippi assistant attorney general has approved a request from Kemper County officials to house up to 36 state inmates at the newly opened Kemper-Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility.
The inmates will work on clean-up and maintenance crews.
Supervisors told Warden Bill Jarvis to get started on the Mississippi Department of Corrections' approval process at a meeting earlier this week. Mike McGrevey, serving as interim county administrator, said the paperwork must be submitted to Attorney General Mike Moore and then to a U.S. Magistrate Judge for final approval.
Inmates may also help with road and bridge maintenance.
The 36 inmates will be divided into several crews.
McGrevey said county officials may focus on a countywide litter-education program to help keep roads clean.
Kemper County will receive $20 a day for housing each inmate, McGrevey said. Meals for each cost $2.20 a day and the rest of the $20 goes toward overhead costs like prison employees' salaries, supplies and equipment. The inmates will receive time off their sentences in exchange for their work.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@meridianstar.com.