3 Coast jails release some inmates during the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s why.
About 20% of nonviolent offenders have been released from three Coast jails because of the threat from the novel coronavirus, sheriffs and prosecutors say.
“I have not personally released anybody,” Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson told the Sun Herald. “I go by what the (court) orders are. These are pre-trial detainees who are awaiting trial and could not afford to bond out.
“We want to lower our population at the jail to prevent this virus from coming into our jail. The last thing I want is to have coronavirus get inside that jail. Then we would have potentially 600-plus inmates, guards and corrections officers — everybody— exposed to it. If it happened, it would be a tragedy.”
Sheriffs have worked with county prosecutors, lawyers and judges who signed the orders for release in the three Coast counties.
Inmates released are all nonviolent detainees either awaiting trial or qualified for post-supervision release.
The number of inmates released, by county, is:
▪ 144 in Harrison County
▪ 13 in Stone County
▪ 44 in Hancock County.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said none of their pre-trial offenders have been released.
“I don’t have any plans of doing anything like that,” Ezell said. “But we have been very cautious about the folks who are coming in. We’ve got some bad folks in there, and they are not being released.”
The efforts to reduce jail populations come as the number new coronavirus cases continue to rise in Mississippi and the United States.
As of Thursday, the United States had 632,220 confirmed cases and 22,871 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi accounted for 3,624 cases and 129 deaths, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. In the six southernmost counties, 509 cases were reported and 23 deaths.
Harrison County Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker said once the governor declared a state of emergency, the court system, sheriff, public defender’s office and local public safety agencies began looking at how to expedite cases and release people on bond or post-conviction supervision.
However, he said any habitual offender with a history of committing crimes was not eligible for release because “public safety will always be top priority.”
To further combat the threat of coronavirus in local jails, sheriffs also have taken other measures, such as checking temperatures on new prisoners.
Prisoners with fever or other symptoms are tested for COVID-19.
“We had one person that came from Greene County that had a spike in temperature the day after she got to the jail,” Peterson said. “She was tested, and her cellmate was tested and both came back negative.”
In addition, jail guards, deputies and other staff are wearing protective gear, including masks and gloves.
“We are doing what we can to prevent an outbreak,” Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam said.
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
