Sheriff: New jail opens door for future inmate trash pickup

The long-awaited groundbreaking on the site of what will become Warren County’s new jail was called a welcomed arrival by local officials when shovels met dirt Monday morning on Old Highway 80, and Sheriff Martin Pace said the new facility’s impact will extend into many aspects of the community.

The jail is scheduled to be completed in approximately two years.

One such area Pace said the jail will affect is trash pickup throughout the county.

“The state inmate trustee program allows a county sheriff to house a minimal amount of working inmates,” Pace said. “These are trustees that are of minimal risk that are allowed to work, under supervision, out in the field doing things like picking up litter, cleaning storm debris and things like that.”

Pace said the program, which was utilized by 66 Mississippi counties in 2023, has not been available to Warren County in recent years because of the condition of its current jail.

“We did (that program) up until the Department of Corrections was no longer allowed to use our facility because of the age and condition of the current jail,” Pace said. “The new jail will allow me to house a minimal amount of inmates – maybe half a dozen – to use as working inmates, under the supervision of a deputy, that would be out picking up litter throughout the county. These are the same inmate work crews who you may see if you’re going through some of our neighboring counties: Hinds, Rankin, Madison, because their jails are able to be approved by the Department of Corrections.”

And while the current Warren County Jail does house detainees, it’s their designation as unconvicted – or pre-trial – detainees that makes them ineligible for work detail in the eyes of the state.

“We are not able to house state inmates,” Pace said. “Part of the confusion when people ask me, on a pretty regular basis, ‘Why don’t you put those inmates to work?’ is that all we are currently housing is people that are pre-trial; they have not been to court yet, and you can’t work a pre-trial detainee out in public view. They’ve not been convicted of anything. They are innocent until proven guilty.”

Pace also said it is important for residents to be aware the county will still need to choose to opt into the state cleanup program using inmates in approximately two years when the construction of the new jail is completed.

“We can use those inmates, if we so choose, at that point to help the road department,” Pace said. “One of the requirements for this is that these trustees must be housed separately from pre-trial detainees. The new jail has a cell incorporated into its design specifically for inmate trustees. It’s for that purpose.”