Pike County supervisors agreed Monday to suspend action on building a new jail. By a 4-1 vote, they rescinded all previous efforts they had undertaken on the proposed $38 million correctional facility as concerns rose over the potential for significant tax increases to pay for it.
The board’s resolution, passed with a 4-1 vote, pauses two years of working to assess needs, pursue financing and hire a contractor to build a 207-bed facility and replace a 30-year-old structure that has been the subject of lawsuits.
“We understand that many of you are here to voice your concerns of the construction of the new Pike County jail,” board president Justin Lofton said to people who attended Monday’s meeting. “We have decided it is in the best interest to temporarily suspend all plans for a new jail.”
The move came days after growing unpopularity for the project as former Supervisor Gary Honea publicized his pending challenge of it in chancery court.
Barring any objections, Chancery Court Judge Debbra Halford was expected to validate the financing for the new jail during a court hearing that took place an hour after the supervisors met Monday.
In his filing opposing the new jail, Honea called the project unaffordable and ineffective in addressing problems in the criminal justice system that contributed to overcrowding.
Honea argued in his objection that the board hasn’t been transparent in its actions, with much of the planning for the jail taking place in executive session. He also criticized the awarding of a no-bid contract to Benchmark Construction through the use of a lease-purchase agreement that allowed the board to bypass the bid process.
During the court hearing, board attorney Brandon Frazier noted the abrupt suspension of the project and asked Halford to dismiss the matter, which she did over Honea’s objections. She gave Honea 10 days to file a motion to reconsider the dismissal.
Supervisor Robert Accardo, the lone opponent in Monday’s vote, said he was not opposed to the board’s decision but had issues with the resolution itself.
“I’m fully in favor of slowing the process down. We need to listen to our citizens, but I’m just opposed to the way this resolution is drawn up,” he said. “It puts the county in grave danger of litigation.”
He said after the meeting that the resolution “basically fired everyone” already under contract on the project.
“It fired the contractor, it fired the bond attorney, it fired the financial adviser,” he said. “It fired everybody that was engaged in the project.”
Accardo said Frazier disagreed with that assessment.
Lofton noted during the meeting that the current jail does not meet correctional standards. However, he said the county never sought the advice of the National Institute of Corrections, an offshoot of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, about whether the current jail is salvageable. County officials plan to invite representatives from the federal agency to tour the jail and give their insights.
“We want to emphasize that this pause does not mean we have decided against building a new jail,” Lofton said, adding that supervisors must “consider alternative solutions.”
“Should the assessment reveal new conclusions, we will embrace those findings and move forward,” he said. “We are simply re-examining whether the jail in its current state cannot be brought up to corrections standards.”
The board heard from members of the public about the jail and its potential effects on property taxes after going through its agenda.
Former Magnolia Mayor Anthony Witherspoon asked about what actions officials would take to improve living conditions in the jail.
Sheriff Wally Jones said his administration has been able to make some improvements.
“We’re proud of where it is now,” he said. “We’re constantly working to make things better in our current facility and we’ve come a long way in the last six months. We’ve all worked hard at it. Maj. (Jewel) Hines has addressed the food situation. I’ve eaten some of the food up there.”
“We don’t want a five-star hotel,” another resident said. “A jail should provide humane conditions. Inmates don’t need to be treated royally — treated fairly.”
Etta Taplin said supervisors should have had more public outreach about the project.
“You circumvented the public hearing,” she said. “You cannot make a decision and leave the public out.”
“We the people will not be quiet on this issue,” Victor Lowery said.
“The meetings have always been open to the public. We’ve been talking about this for two whole years,” Supervisor Sam Hall said.
Supervisor Jake Gazzo said supervisors heard the public’s concerns loud and clear, and Monday’s action reflected that.
“Your voice was heard,” he said.
Supervisor Lee Fortenberry said he has agonized the past two years over the need for a jail and the inevitable tax increases the project would produce.
“The stress of this jail situation has put 10 years on my life,” he said. “I don’t want to go up on taxes. This jail has just driven me crazy.”
In addressing public concerns, Lofton said Honea correctly noted in his objections that the county has the authority to borrow $46.15 million for the project, but “that is a not-to-exceed amount,” in case of contingencies.
Accardo said after the meeting that improvements have been made at the jail under Jones, and a review may determine that it is usable, but he still questioned whether it’s worth the investment to improve it.
“Even with those changes, even if the county goes in and spends millions of dollars on the old jail, you know what you have? An old jail,” he said. “Why a correctional officer hasn’t been killed or seriously injured before now is a mystery to me. We really can’t get out of that old jail fast enough. It’s a lawsuit generator.”
After the meeting, Accardo also addressed his receipt of an “unsolicited” $1,000 campaign contribution from Benchmark Construction, the company hired by supervisors to build the jail.
“I know how it looks,” he said. “If people want to say you can buy my vote, everybody has a price, but mine’s a lot more than $1,000 and I don’t think Benchmark can afford my price.
“I don’t look good in green-and-white stripes and we have a state auditor that makes a sport of putting low-level elected officials in jail.”
Accardo’s campaign finance report for May 2023 said he received the contribution from Benchmark on May 1 of that month.
Accardo was the only member of the board to receive a donation from Benchmark. He said the contribution was no different than what he and other supervisors received from engineering firm Neel-Schaffer, which has done business with the county for years.
The opposition to the jail came with a near perfect storm of skepticism over politically unpopular topics, some more significant than others — a tax increase, closed-door planning sessions, a no-bid contract and a campaign contribution from the builder.
Lofton said he agreed that the board could have done more to foster transparency.
“It falls back on this board because we failed, in my opinion, to provide the transparency, but I’ll admit though, there were some things we couldn’t share,” Lofton said, adding that jail security matters were kept behind closed doors. “Most importantly, the taxpayers need to be confident we’re making the right decisions.
“This pause is less about us and our pride to move this forward, and it’s more about how the concerned citizens have spoken out, and showing them that we’re not tone deaf, we’re with them.”
