Lincoln County supervisors Tuesday agreed to wait on making anydecisions about the future of the Lincoln County Jail and expresseddiscomfort that the Mississippi Department of Corrections did notmeet with them before making its decision to permanently removeinmates from the county lockup.

MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps said Monday the agency hascompleted its investigation of the jail and would not renew anorder that authorizes it to hold state inmates. The commissionerfurther stated he would not renew the order, which expires Aug. 12,as long as its supervision was conducted by the sheriff.

As an alternative, Epps suggested the county considercontracting a private company to operate the facility.

“My first thought is: Would it be feasible?” said District ThreeSupervisor Nolan Earl Williamson. “I would rather the sheriff runit if possible.”

Supervisors said they would consider a contractual agreementwith a private company on the jail. However, they said too manyquestions remained unanswered for them to seriously discuss anypotential change now.

Before the board makes any decision concerning the jail,Williamson said, supervisors would like to discuss the situationand meet with Epps.

District Two Supervisor Bobby Watts agreed.

“We don’t know the whole story,” he said. “The board is going todo what’s right for the county.”

Watts said he was not happy that Epps made his decision withoutconsulting with the board about the possible ramifications ofMDOC’s decision.

“I don’t appreciate him throwing his weight around withouttalking to anyone here. It makes Lincoln County look bad,” Wattssaid. “I would like to meet with (Epps) to get more information onpossibilities.”

The county presently has two options regarding the jail, Eppssaid. It could continue to allow the sheriff to supervise itwithout the addition of state inmates or contract the jail to aprivate company.

Contracting with a private company is a possibility that hasworked “perfectly” in Grenada County, said Powell Vance, chanceryclerk of the north-central Mississippi county.

However, Grenada County’s jail situation is considerablydifferent from Lincoln County’s. Grenada County was forced to buildthe jail and contract out the facility many years ago by thefederal government, Vance said.

“The feds made this county build this jail. The county didn’thave any option,” Vance said. “But it’s worked perfectly forus.”

Grenada County could not afford to operate the facility underthe federal mandates, Vance said. But by leasing the building tothe company and paying a $33 daily fee per prisoner, the county hassaved millions of dollars.

“We figure we’re saving in excess of $1 million a year than ifthe sheriff ran it under the federal mandates,” Vance said.

Grenada County’s jail is a 180-bed facility. The Lincoln CountyJail has 120 beds.

Lincoln County supervisors hope to review their options withEpps during a meeting of the board in the near future.