Mississippi may
get isle inmatesHawaii officials study moving
prisoners in two states to
the privately run facility
JACKSON, Miss. >> Hawaii officials have toured a privately run prison near Tutwiler amid negotiations of a contract to move some of their inmates from Arizona and Oklahoma to Tallahatchie County in the upcoming weeks.
Alabama has been housing inmates at the prison since last summer, but has taken them back. The move left prison operators with no choice but to consider shutting down the facility.
The prison had been limited to minimum- and medium-security prisoners, but Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill last month to allow maximum-security inmates to be housed at the Tallahatchie County facility. And negotiations with Hawaii officials have progressed, leaving prison operators cautiously optimistic.
Officials of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety were not available for comment.
Steve Owen, spokesman for the Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America, which manages the 1,000-bed facility, said the prison's 280 employees will remain of the job through March 28. Their contracts were to expire today.
The remaining 100 Alabama inmates left the facility earlier last week, Owen said.
House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said talks with Hawaii officials appear to be moving in the right direction.
"I would assume they are in the later stages of negotiations," Malone said Friday. "I don't suspect any problem with it. I think it will be a very smooth transition."
Malone said he expects up to 1,000 Hawaii inmates will stay for one year.
Owen said 520 inmates from Hawaii are now being housed at a CCA-managed facility in Arizona and another 850 at a company-run facility in Oklahoma. Owen was reluctant to discuss other specifics about Hawaii inmates coming to Mississippi until an announcement is made.
Hawaii officials toured the Mississippi prison last week. The state's contract with the Arizona prison expires in June, Hawaii officials have said.
Some of the employees in Tallahatchie County will also have the opportunity to transfer to a private prison in Greenwood that is expected to reopen in a few weeks.
Malone said he anticipates the Delta prison will reopen in April and house up to 750 medium security inmates to be transferred from the State Penitentiary at Parchman. "There will be no problem staffing it," he said.