EDITORIAL/Broken jail fix
Posted
Transporting suspects to Louisville is going to be an expensive fix for the Philadelphia Police Department and a potential threat to public safety.
Nevertheless, the mayor and board voted 3-1 to contract with the Winston-Choctaw County Correctional Center after a two-decade-old contract with Neshoba County was rightly updated.
Sheriff Eric Clark proposed a four-year deal that would have the city paying $150,000 per year, or $12,500 per month, to use the jail. That would have been an annual increase of around 36 percent when compared to the current contract that was signed in 1997. Not a bad deal considering.
Housing prisoners is expensive and so is the cost of transporting them, not to mention the hardship on families visiting.
An officer could leave the Neshoba jail and respond to an emergency. Louisville is a 30-minute drive with blue lights.
Looks like the PPD is going to be burning up Highway 15 when they could be patrolling the streets of Philadelphia more effectively.