MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Local and Private Legislation

By: Representative Brown

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LOWNDES COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, TO CONTRACT WITH COUNTIES IN ANOTHER STATE BORDERING THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, WHICH COUNTIES BORDER LOWNDES COUNTY, FOR HOUSING, CARE AND CONTROL OF CERTAIN OFFENDERS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFENDERS SHALL BE HOUSED IN THE ADULT DETENTION CENTER WHICH IS LOCATED IN LOWNDES COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The Board of Supervisors of Lowndes County, Mississippi, (a) may contract with counties in another state bordering the State of Mississippi, which counties border Lowndes County, to provide for housing in a detention center in the county and for the care and control of offenders who are in the custody of the jurisdiction with which the county contracted, who are classified as minimum or medium security offenders, who do not have histories of escape, and who are sentenced to terms of incarceration for conviction of a felony or for conviction of a misdemeanor, provided that the incarceration in the facility for a misdemeanor is consistent with American Correctional Association Standards; (b) may enter into agreements relating to a contract entered into under this act which may extend the contract for time periods that are acceptable to the parties, notwithstanding any provision or rule of law to the contrary; and (c) may exercise all powers necessary or desirable in connection with the operation of a detention center, including, but not limited to, the power to incarcerate offenders described above. The offenders shall be housed in the adult detention center located in Lowndes County, Mississippi, and the maximum number of offenders that may be housed under this act in such detention center shall not exceed three hundred (300). The detention center shall meet the percentage of standards required for accreditation by the American Correctional Association. Lowndes County shall return any offender released from the detention center to the jurisdiction from which the offender was sent.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and shall be in force from and after its passage.