Jackson Free Press

After a series of high-profile incidents at Hinds County's Raymond Detention Center that sometimes bordered on comical, the county will look at the possibility of privatizing some or all of the jail's operations.

At this morning's county board meeting, District 3 Supervisor Peggy Hobson Calhoun proposed soliciting cost estimates for a number of options: building a new county jail, selling the jail, adding capacity by building an additional house pod, renovating the existing jail that officials say is in a state of disrepair, as well as for maintaining and running the facility's day-to-day operations. The deal would not include the Hinds County Restitution Center on South Gallatin Street in Jackson, Hobson-Calhoun said.

Chief Deputy Chris Picou called the RFP part of a needs assessment for the jail, which he said was plagued with problems that would be costly to bring up to standard.

"We're not saying we're going to do this, or we're going to do that. We are looking at all options that we have, and we'll bring the people to the table. The thing you can rest assured is that we're going to do what's best for Hinds County citizens," Picou told the Jackson Free Press in a telephone interview this morning.

Picou said first-term Sheriff Tyrone Lewis campaigned last year to save taxpayers money wherever possible. One of Lewis' first cost-saving actions upon taking office in January was switching jail commissary providers to Jackson-based Premier Supply Link LLC. In November, the county agreed to privatize its jail food services at a savings of $100,000 to county taxpayers.

Board President and District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham said he liked the idea of privatizing management of the facility. District 3 Supervisor Phil Fisher said that although he opposes the construction of a new jail, he favored taking a system-wide look at the county's jail system.

Hobson-Calhoun's vote to issue a jail RFP passed unanimously, 4-0. District 5 Supervisor Kenneth Stokes was not present for the vote. Dana Price Sims, the sheriff office's attorney, said the agency was shopping for "a whole idea"--a company that could both build and manage a jail.

Only a handful of firms have that capacity, however. Earlier this year, Corrections Corporation of America--the nation's largest private corrections management firm--sent a letter to 48 state officials offering to buy state prisons and local jail facilities and run them. The deal would apply to facilities with a minimum of 1,000 beds, and the term would span up to 25 years. The agency would also have to guarantee a minimum occupancy rate of 90 percent throughout the contract's term.

CCA, headquartered in Nashville, along with the nation's second- and third-largest private prison companies--Boca Raton-based GEO Group Ltd. and Centerville, Utah-based Management & Training Corp.--have all done business in Mississippi.

Turning corrections functions over to private firms is a source of wide criticism from prison-rights activists who charge that the quest for higher profits motivate private operators to cut corners, putting inmates and staff in danger.

In March 2012, lawyers representing a group of boys and young men who alleged abuse at the GEO-owned Walnut Grove Correctional Facility reached a settlement in the case. The high-profile suit charged prison managers with creating a violent and corrupt culture through which staff sold drugs in the prison and engaged in sex with the young people they supervised. The U.S. Department of Justice started looking into Walnut Grove in 2010 and issued a report last spring charging the state of Mississippi with showing "deliberate indifference" toward the conditions at the prison.

In May at the Adams County Correctional Center--a federal prison that CCA operates in Natchez--about 200 immigrant inmates briefly seized control of part of the facility, beat several guards and held more than 20 staff members hostage. Catlin Carithers, a young correctional officer, was beaten to death during the melee.

Picou said he couldn't comment on the track record of private jail operators. He did offer reassurance that Lewis would still be in control, however: "Let me make this clear: the Hinds County Sheriff's Department is not giving up the authority of the jail. That's not going to happen."