Jackson Free Press

This morning's escape of four men from the downtown Jackson Detention Center came just days after members of the Jackson City Council discussed the city building its own jail.

Information from the Hinds County Sheriff's Office shows that the prisoners escaped in the early morning hours, between 4 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.

The sheriff's office identified the men as Tyree Bailey, 17; Cornelius Carter, 16; Airick Toins, 16; and Kevin Holmes, 17.

Several local television news stations had video this morning of bed sheets hanging down from windows of the President Street facility as well as pictures of plastic wrap, cookies and duct tape.

The sheriff's office, which oversees that facility as well as the Raymond Detention Center, was not available for comment this morning and is asking for the public's help in finding the men.

In recent years, the Raymond jails has experienced a number of security problems that Sheriff Tyrone Lewis attributes to the building's old age and shoddy original construction.

On March 30, the Budget Committee of the Jackson City Council briefly discussed the City's payments to the county for jail facilities and questioned whether it would be cheaper to build a holding facility for City detainees.

"If we're spending $1.2 million a year for a facility we don't own, maybe we should build our own facility and let them run the operation," Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps said, referring to the City's agreement with Hinds County for the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center.

Jackson has an inter-local agreement with Hinds County to detain adult prisoners arrested in the City.

Mayor Tony Yarber said his administration has been exploring at the possibility of having its own jail, including any U.S. Department of Justice regulations the City would have to meet.