JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Hinds County supervisors are moving forward with efforts to repair the Hinds County Detention Center, which was ravaged by rioting inmates last week.
Supervisors voted to hire White Construction Company to perform a facility needs assessment on the entire jail.
White Construction was also been hired to immediately start restoration and repairs.
Supervisor Kenneth Stokes voted against the plan, saying he was unsure if the county shouldn't just build a whole new jail.
"I'm saying, if they say this can be repaired then give us some guarantees. We don't want to hear something about the lock being Jimmied within a year or two years and they're walking back around," Stokes said. "We want some guarantees. Only thing I know, that to guarantee everything is done right is to build a new one."
Supervisor Peggy Hobson Calhoun said she wants to look at all the options.
"Whether or not we leave the facility in this current disrepair state or whether or not we repair Pod C to provide a secure and safe environment or whether or not we take the existing facility and expand, but I think we need to know what our options are," Calhoun said.
Sheriff Tyrone Lewis attended the meeting but had limited input. Earlier this year, he took media on a tour of Pod B and showed how inmates could let themselves out of their cells, because of a faulty door lock system.
"We need a jail where people can't walk in and out, we need a jail where they can't go and slide the door back and go across to the other inmates," Stoke said. "We want a jail, when you're in jail, you're in jail."
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