The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors on Monday inked an agreement that will allow the county to use state inmates to pick up trash and litter if enough of them are housed in the local jail.

Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun said the county previously had a memorandum of understanding with the Mississippi Department of Transportation where the county would use inmates to collect litter along state highways, and MDOT would reimburse the county for some of the costs.

The litter crews were ended once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Calhoun said, and the program is just now getting back up off the ground.

While the new agreement is in place, Calhoun said residents shouldn’t expect to see litter disappear any time soon as there aren’t enough eligible inmates in the Lauderdale County Detention Center to staff the litter crews.

A mixture of criminal justice reform, changes in parole policies and efforts to reduce prison overcrowding have greatly reduced the number of inmates who qualify for work details. Every county in the state is competing for a shrinking pool of workers, Calhoun said.

“We’ve asked for more, but everybody asks for them these days. With the changes in our state statutes, in regard to those who are eligible to be inmate workers, that pool is just a whole lot smaller,” he said. “More of them are going out on probation these days.

The detention center needs eight or nine inmates to take care of preparing food, laundry and other chores around the facility. In addition, three are needed for a litter crew, Calhoun said.

Additionally, Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said only convicted inmates can be used for inmate labor. A large portion of inmates at Lauderdale County Detention Center have cases that are still moving through the legal process.

“The folks who are back there pre-trial, by law, we cannot work them,” he said.

MDOT understands the county doesn’t have the manpower right now, Calhoun said, but it’s worth signing the MOU anyway. That way, he said, the county has the ability to run a litter crew if and when it can provide the labor.

Looking forward, Calhoun said there may be an opportunity for the sheriff’s department to partner with Justice Court to address the litter problem. Meridian Municipal Court Judge Dustin Markham recently implemented a way for city residents to substitute community service in lieu of fines, he said, and a similar solution may be possible for the county.