Preventing Jail Breaks on the Coast

Today, a Perry County inmate was captured after escaping from jail. This is just one of multiple jail breaks this month in Mississippi alone. News 25’s Katarina Luketich caught up with local detention center officials to see how they can prevent this from happening here on the Coast.
The New York prison escape captivated the nation, but multiple jail breaks are occurring right here in Mississippi. The Coast is home to two of the three largest adult detention centers in the state: Harrison and Jackson County. Officials say the two most important things in preventing jail breaks are having a well-trained staff and having a facility structure with no easy exit opportunities.
Director of the Jackson County Adult Detention Center Captain Michael Wright said “If you have mechanical deficiencies in your facility, inmates are going to exploit that. They have 24 hours a day, seven days a week to find a way to mess with the mechanical aspects of any facility.”Harrison County Melvin Brisolara remembers when he first took office in 2008, 80 percent of the cells didn’t lock and inmates were able to roam freely. He said those issues were quickly addressed, but similar problems could be what is leading to all of these escapes. Sheriff Melvin Brisolara said, “You have to take a look at the individual facility, see where they might have a breech in security issues, where their facility might be run down and need to have improvements done to it.”
“Sometimes, we have to think like an inmate. We have to go ahead and go into a cell and find out what the deficiencies are. We’ve done some spot testing on each of the cells that have been put into our facility,” said Captain Wright.
Harrison and Jackson County Adult Detention Center officials say they believe their staff and facilities make it unlikely for a jail break to happen here on the Coast.
The new adult detention center in Jackson County is expected to be completed within the next two months.