Lee County Jail facilities cover wide spectrum

TUPELO - A jail and sheriff’s office serving an area the size of Lee County brings many services under a single umbrella. The necessity of operating such an omnibus means, when the building wears out, clamors for relief come from many directions.

Lee County’s jail is a holding facility for more than 230 prisoners, a commercial kitchen serving several hundred meals per day, a storage location for critical evidence and files, a school room for juvenile offenders, an exercise facility mandated by federal law, a medical facility for the infirm, a working location for 150 highly valued employees and a repository of last resort for the mentally ill among much else. All of these services and tasks go on in an environment of tight security unique to the penal system, adding more stress and wear than would occur in similar facilities elsewhere.