CORINTH – Assuming the Alcorn County Regional Jail passes its annual inspection later this week, the county may qualify for 50 additional state inmate workers to provide labor for local government and nonprofit work around the county.
Sheriff Charles Rinehart told supervisors during Monday’s meeting that attorney Ron Welch of Jackson, who represents state inmates with regard to appropriate living conditions, will be visiting Corinth this week for his annual inspection of the jail.
Supervisors approved the usual payment of $3,000 for Welch’s work, which is to monitor a federal court order concerning prison conditions
After the inspection, Rinehart said he also plans to ask for state approval to convert 50 beds in the county jail for use as housing for state inmate workers. The county would be paid for the additional state inmates at the rate of $29.74 which is paid for the other state inmates housed at the regional jail, increasing the county’s income from the state.
With requests for state inmate labor around the county from various local government offices as well as nonprofit organizations regularly exceeding the availability of workers, obtaining approval from the state would benefit the county in both ways, the sheriff said.
