Upcoming Hinds County Sheriff race focuses in on jail escapes and candidate indictments

As voters prepare to vote in August primaries that will include hotly contested statewide races such as the one for lieutenant governor, critical county races for local officials such as sheriffs and supervisors will also be on the ballot.

One of the most watched local races in the state will be for Hinds County Sheriff, as recent headlines and developments cast increased scrutiny on the rematch between Sheriff Tyree Jones and former interim-Sheriff Marshand Crisler.

Jones was elected in a 2021 special election following the death of Sheriff Lee Vance. Crisler had been appointed interim sheriff to immediately replace Vance by the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, but the voters ultimately picked Jones in a runoff by a margin of about 20%. Crisler was later appointed interim executive director of the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, a position he stepped down from earlier this year when he announced he would again seek the sheriff position.

The two candidates have both faced scrutiny in recent months, albeit of very different kinds.

In April, Crisler was indicted in federal court for allegedly soliciting and accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for agreeing to pass information concerning criminal investigations to the person who paid the bribes, according to court documents. He was also indicted in the same case for allegedly providing ammunition to a convicted felon. Court documents indicate that the offenses allegedly occurred during his term as interim sheriff.

Each of the two counts Crisler was indicted with carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Crisler pleaded not guilty to both charges in April and soon thereafter vowed to continue his race against Jones.

Crisler did not immediately respond to requests to comment for this story, but he and Jones both appeared at a forum held last week at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church. Crisler said the federal criminal charges do not concern him.

"I’m not concerned about this. The reason why is because I know who I am and whose I am," Crisler said at the forum, according to WAPT. "But more importantly, I know I’m innocent. I know I didn’t commit any crime.”

For Jones, the brunt of the criticism he has faced comes from his role as "chief jailer," one of the two main responsibilities the sheriff described in a Friday interview. There have been 10 escapes from the Hinds County jail since Jones took office, including four during a single April incident.

At the candidate forum, Crisler vowed to put an end to the escapes.

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"What I want to make sure is that I do one thing for y'all, ladies and gentlemen of Hinds County: I'm going to make sure I keep the detainees detained," Crisler said, according to WAPT. "We had 13 detainees who just walked out of jail like they have the key. That means they have the opportunity to re-victimize you. That's a basic responsibility for a sheriff, and I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."

Jones disputed that number during the forum, doing so again during the interview. Jones said Crisler is including three escapes that occurred within the juvenile detention center.

"He's using those escapes in the Henley-Young detention center to make it appear that I had more escapes, but when you go and look on the structure of Hinds County, I have absolutely no oversight or responsibility for that facility at all," Jones said, noting that an escape occurred while Crisler was the administrator of the facility as well.

Despite saying "the situation with the jail is an issue that I inherited," Jones said he has publicly accepted responsibility for the escapes that have occurred under his watch.

"I've accepted accountability and responsibility for it, but at the same time we have also put more security measures in place to prevent that from happening again, and I'm very optimistic about those security measures that we have because I have seen that some of this has proven to be a success. We have not had any more issues," Jones said.

That said, he also pointed out that many of the escapes were related to vulnerabilities of the facility's construction, and noted that building construction and maintenance is not his responsibility either. While his office provides staffing and administration, the county supervisors are responsible for upkeep. The jail, which is about three decades old, was poorly constructed from the very beginning, Jones argues.

"I've not shied away from the situation at that jail. I've been transparent with the people about those issues, and this is something that has stretched for many decades, probably since the inception of the jail. It was poorly built by a company that had never built a detention center or a jail before," Jones said.

Jones said that the office has made significant progress under his abbreviated first term, including securing pay raises that have made it easier to higher needed staff at the detention facilities. He also said he is particularly proud that the office is now accredited with the state of Mississippi for the first time ever.

"We joined only five other sheriffs' offices in the state of Mississippi that has this accreditation," Jones said.

Jones said it is important to elect a sheriff with a proven record of integrity.

"I've operated in this office with integrity. I have not positioned myself to be compromised, and I have not positioned myself to compromise the Office of the Sheriff," Jones said. "I think that when the voters voted me into office in 2021 against my opponent, it's obvious today that they've made the right choice."

Jones and Crisler will face off in the Democratic primary on Aug. 8. The winner will face independent candidate Reginald Thompson in the Nov. 7 general election.

Based on a pay scale set by the state legislature, the Hinds County Sheriff is the highest paid in the state. Jones is paid around $124,000 annually.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: See issues that will decide the Hinds County sheriff's race in August