We, the members of the Vicksburg Branch of the NAACP, investigated the need for a new Warren County Jail after we received information that the third floor of the jail is still vacant. On Dec. 21, 2009, Sheriff Pace granted our request for a tour of the jail. The jail is overcrowded, dark and gloomy, but it is not lacking space for expansion. The reports of a vacant third floor are correct.

The sheriff and Board of Supervisors have not fulfilled their plans from 2002 when a new roof and third floor were added to the jail with plans to later finish the third floor to house additional inmates.

Statements from from Pace and Board President Richard George have been published in The Vicksburg Post dated from September 2000 through March 2002 that “It would be unwise to spend an enormous amount of money and not add the third floor,” George and Pace were quoted saying, “The third floor will eventually house more inmates.”

The Board of Supervisors has spent $1.4 million on the new roof with a third floor addition and a new alarm system to cover the third floor.

After speaking with Pace, we are of the understanding that the jail’s main problems are bed space and safety concerns for staff and inmates. The bed space problem can be resolved with the third floor completion for inmates and the implementation of a population control manager (one of the first suggestions made in the $200,000 study). The third floor can house 50 to 100 inmates depending on the chosen layout. The Sheriff’s Department only reserves 20 beds in Issaquena County with an average of four inmates housed there daily. The population control manager will expedite court dates and assure no detainee would have a prolonged stay in jail without hiscourt date — resulting in shorter jail stays and savings for Warren County.

Pace agreed that future expansion by purchasing property on its south side or by closing Adams Street in the rear of the jail and using county property with underground parking is acceptable. There are companies that specialize in this process. We must also remember the jail is a landmark with grandfather status on many issues and cannot be torn down. Pace said he wanted the jail to remain in close proximity to the courthouse. A 10-acre plus site is not justified without a regional jail status and a contract with the Mississippi State Department of Corrections to house state inmates.

The members of the Vicksburg NAACP are asking the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Warren County Sheriff to realize the error in the continued funding of a new jail. Without the completion and housing of inmates on the third floor along with population control manager to expedite detainees the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Pace deserve blame for wasting taxpayers’ money.

The Board of Supervisors is misleading the residents of Warren County on the projected cost of the new jail by separating construction and operation cost of a new jail. Combine the two costs and present the total tax increase to the residents.

We are asking the residents of Warren County to contact their supervisor and have them to explain where a repayment of a minimum $4 million yearly for 20 years will come from at our estimate of $30 million for the bond or loan. The residents of Warren County must become informed and understand that we are all blameworthy if we allow the Board of Supervisors and the sheriff to continue doing things that are financially inefficient.

Finish the third floor first and hire a population manager. Government must fully utilize what it has with efficiency before acquiring more property.

John Shorter

President, Vicksburg NAACP