Returning suspects from Tennessee jail took planning
Mar. 21—TUPELO — The trip by Lee County deputy sheriffs to the other side of Knoxville last Friday to pick up three kidnapping suspects took more planning than most personal vacations.
Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said there are a host of things that must be considered when transporting prisoners long distances. Security is the most important.
"You have to work around meals and restroom breaks. And we have to think about the route, which we never give out in advance," Johnson said. "If it is going to be an overnight trip with the prisoner, we coordinate with a county jail along the way. The prisoner will spend the night in the jail while the officers sleep in a hotel."
In this case, the deputies left early Friday morning, making the six-hour drive from Tupelo to the Campbell County Detention Center in Jacksboro, Tennessee. The transport officers arrived around noon. The prisoners — one male and two female — ate lunch in Tennessee and then were loaded in the car for the trip to Mississippi, where ate a late supper.
Vanessa Cox, Shelia Hood and Douglas Mills were booked into the Lee County Jail around 8:30 p.m. Friday.
"Because of the time, it is a long day for the transport officers," Johnson said. "Once you get the prisoners in the car, the security risk changes. You want to limit the number of stops. If there is a meal, they go through the drive through and eat in the car. They only get out of the car for a restroom break or at a jail."
On long transports, they always send two officers. The sheriff said the ratio of officers to prisoners is not a factor in most situations. What is a factor, however, is the gender of the prisoners. Johnson had to send a female officer on the Tennessee trip so an officer could go into the bathroom with the females if needed.
"You never leaver a prisoner alone," Johnson said. "The last thing you want is to offer them an opportunity to escape."
Lee County has four deputies who do nothing but transport prisoners. They don't answer emergency calls or patrol. The bulk of the transports are from the jail to either justice court or circuit court. There is the occasional trip to another county to retrieve a prisoner.
To ease overcrowding issues, Johnson signed a contract with the Itawamba County Jail to house overflow prisoners.
