Time Is Running Out For The Old Jail
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
I appreciate all of the feedback from last week’s column about Parchman, many families have loved ones incarcerated.
Water Valley resident Sally Lott McLellan wrote me about serving as a volunteer with the Prison Writes Institute directed by Louis Bourgeois of Oxford. McLellan teaches Creative Arts at Parchman and has worked with inmates in Unit 30 and Unit 29 for almost four years. She was curious if I was aware of other groups who visit the prison with the purpose of rehabilitative efforts.
McLellan believes the opportunities offered to inmates in Parchman help isolated people reform and receive a second chance to become wholesome members of their communities when they are released. She noted that the presence of people who care and want to help make a difference in the lives of the otherwise forgotten.
Thanks for reaching out, Sally, it is uplifting to hear so many success stories about the transformation going on at Parchman.
We have received a ton of calls from subscribers outside the Water Valley area who are experience delays in receiving their newspaper. The problems started in June, and some subscribers are still missing editions from June and July. I have noticed that if a holiday falls on a Wednesday, the day the newspapers are mailed, it seems to slow delivery for weeks.
With Juneteenth and July 4 both falling on a Wednesday, this may be part of the problem. What’s frustrating is subscribers in Oxford, Batesville or other areas in north Mississippi will get their papers delivered timely for months, but when problems start it persists for weeks. It’s frustrating on both ends and I wish there was a solution.
We are very thankful for our local postal workers, they work hard to make sure the papers are delivered on Wednesday each week. The postal employees at the Water Valley Post Office do an amazing job.
Now to the next topic, I wrote about the flooding in the Water Valley courthouse in the previous two editions, and thankfully things are almost back to normal.
One thing I didn’t get into that was briefly mentioned during discussions about planed work at both county courthouse was a brief conversation about the old, old jail on Blackmur Drive. (I call it the old, old jail to distinguish it from the old jail on Calhoun Street.)
Readers may recall that the jail was in the headlines last year after a portion of the exterior brick wall separated from the building, causing the bricks to dislodge and triggering discussion about the fate of the building.
The building was constructed around 1905 and served as the county’s jail until 1966. The building is designated as a Mississippi Landmark, the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the State of Mississippi. The designation protects the building from changes that may alter the property’s historic character.
Ironically officials from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) visited the old, old jail several days after the flooding event. It was good timing, as Board President Cayce Washington was able to stress the need to changes in the HVAC system at the courthouses that may require MDAH approval. (The courthouses are also designated as Mississippi Landmarks.) Washington explained that the risk from using the water-cooled units in the courthouse is significant. If the major leak that occurred late on July 4 or during the early morning hours on July 5 had gone unnoticed all weekend, the structural integrity of the building could have been compromised.
There was also a little discussion with MDAH officials about tearing down the old, old jail, as Washington explained that the county’s investment in keeping the courthouses maintained takes priority over spending tax dollars on an old building that has been vacant for decades.
In Washington’s words, he told the MDAH officials that county supervisors cannot spend money on the old, old jail when they have problems with the courthouses.
“I told them, ‘the public would think we are bunch of dummies if we do that,’” Washington explained.
District 4 Supervisor Eddie Harris was more blunt during discussion in the July 10 meeting.
“If y’all vote to put one cent in that jail, I want the newspaper man to put in bold print that Eddie Harris said ‘Hell naw.”
You can’t argue with that, there are always pressing needs for roads, bridges, law enforcement and countless other needs that take priority over a building that has little functional value, even if it is restored.
The Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors commissioned a structural evaluation on the building that was performed in June, 2023. A report by engineer Mark Watson cited corrosion and deterioration of the original brick anchor ties as the primary reason the bricks separated from the building. Watson’s report also stated that the steel lintels over the windows were corroded. The report noted that repairing the building will require the removal of the outer brick veneer so that it can be replaced, even with the same bricks. Other necessary work cited in county meetings included a roof replacement in the near future.
There are few options remaining and with every day that passes, the old jail continues to deteriorate. County supervisors understandably would be reluctant to sell the building as it sits on the front lawn of the courthouse. There are grants available to help with restoration, but matching funds in the form of county tax dollars would likely be required.
Time is running out for the old jail, and it will take a creative idea to save this building.
