State moves inmates from regional jails
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Budget problems are forcing the Mississippi Department of Corrections to cut the state inmate population at county regional jails.
The agency, in a news release, said it began Friday removing 602 inmates from 13 of the 15 regional jails. Regional facilities receive $29.74 per inmate, per day. MDOC is contractually required to provide 80 percent occupancy.
Department Commissioner Marshall Fisher says the department must reduce spending by $5 million to comply with Gov. Phil Bryant’s recent order for agencies to cut 1.5 percent of its budget for the last half of the fiscal year ending June 30.
Fisher ended the Joint State County Work Program last August, saying moving the 675 inmates in that program into the department’s own community work centers could save $3.2 million.
