Inmates will once again clean up along state highways, interstates around Jackson. See where

The City of Jackson, Hinds County and The Mississippi Department of Transportation announced at a Wednesday press conference that state inmates will be used to help clean up state highways around Jackson and Hinds County.

The program went into effect about three weeks ago, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said. The inmates will only be used to clean up state highways and frontage roads on interstate highways such as I-55, Hwy 18 and Hwy 80. They won't be used to clean up neighborhood streets.

"We have been effectively cleaning the highways in the City of Jackson and all throughout Hinds County. I think this will be our fourth week going into this operation," Jones said. "We have gone to state facilities and picked up inmates and transported them to clean up areas."

Jones was joined by Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and MDOT's Central Commissioner Willie Simmons to make the announcement.

Jones said three to five inmates will usually be used once a week to pick up the trash. The inmates could potentially get some time off their sentence and extra food for their service. The Hinds County Sheriff's Department will be present during the clean-ups to provide security and safety for the inmates.

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The program was once in full-swing years back, Jones said, but ended due to the Hinds County Detention Center switching to housing inmates who are awaiting trial instead of those fully convicted. It would be a violation of their constitutional rights to use prisoners awaiting trial, the sheriff said.

MDOC houses fully convicted inmates. With their partnership with MDOT, the city and the county, the program is now back. Simmons said he plans on funding $50,000 to both the city and the county annually to continue the program.

"This program can go on forever, and we want it to go on forever because there's a lot of trash being picked up," Simmons said.

According to a Sept. 7 MDOT press release regarding the program, Mississippi has a $3 million littering problem.

Trash and litter has been a top issue for Lumumba in recent months. In August, the city hosted a day of service with volunteers and 29 students from Capital City Alternative School helping to clean-up Percy V. Simpson Drive, which is near Dawson Elementary School in west Jackson, as well as painted and decorated fences to help beautify the street.

At the press conference, Lumumba said efforts to beautify Jackson will continue and the inmate program will help move that forward. It is one of the biggest issues he hears about and urged residents to not litter.

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"Let's make sure that we not only clean up our city on an occasion, but make sure that we routinely clean up our community, every single month, time and time again," Lumumba said.

The mayor also challenged "congregations and faith-based institutions" to help out with cleaning up the city. He said he gets calls from pastors "that want to be a part of initiatives" and asked them "to be a part of cleaning up our city and that we make sure that Jackson represents the beautiful city that we all know it is and that it should be."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MDOC inmates to help clean up state highways in Jackson, Hinds County