Residents miss prison assistance

County officials say East Prairie opted not to use prisoner labor anymore

CHARLESTON -- Mississippi County is not responsible for East Prairie no longer using prisoner labor, according to county officials.

During the regular County Commission meeting Thursday, Commissioner Homer Oliver said he was advised by a county resident that some ladies in East Prairie are "irate because they had lost their state prisoners who had been assisting East Prairie, particularly in their flower beds."

The discontented East Prairie residents believed the county was responsible for them losing their cheap labor from the Southeast Correctional Center thinking mistakenly that it was related to the county's loss of its prisoner labor arrangement for the county road and bridge department, according to Oliver.

The county's prisoner labor program was suspended at the end of August after a prisoner was observed using a cell phone and contraband items were found by prison officials during a surprise "monitoring visit" at the county shed.

Presiding Commissioner Jim Blumenberg said East Prairie actually stopped using prisoner labor at least eight months before the county's program was suspended. "East Prairie opted out," he said.

Blumenberg said East Prairie city officials decided to stop using prisoners when a question was raised about the possibility of needing workers compensation insurance coverage for prisoners used as labor.

Commissioner Martin Lucas said that one entity's suspension from the program would have nothing to do with another entity's program.

Blumenberg said it is possible the whole prisoner labor program may be discontinued soon as prison officials have reportedly found problems at many of the places the program is or was in use.

Oliver said the prisoners used by the county did good work -- especially in maintaining the Oak Grove Cemetery near Charleston.

"They took care of that cemetery like champs," Oliver said.

In other business Thursday:

* Mississippi County officials will mark a tricky turn north of Bertrand.

County Clerk Junior DeLay said a county resident discussed with him a 90-degree turn on County Road 220 where motorists have hit utility poles causing power outages after failing to make the turn.

"He said it has happened several times over the last few years," DeLay said.

The resident requested a sign with "some sort of a warning for people traveling that road," DeLay said. "People travel that road pretty fast."

Commissioners agreed signs with reflectors for approaches to the turn from either direction would be best.

"We'll take care of that," Blumenberg said.

Blumenberg said motorists who overshoot the turn are probably people who don't take that road on a regular basis and are traveling too fast.

* Commissioners discussed locations on county blacktop roads that need sealing oil.

"We have a bunch (of roads) we're going to oil," Blumenberg said. "We're going to oil 15-20 miles."

In addition to county roads, county crews will also put some oil on roads in Wyatt and Bertrand as requested and bill the towns for the materials, Blumenberg said.

* The daily average number of federal detainees held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for October in the Mississippi County Detention Center is up to 45 from September's average of 39, according to Blumenberg.

* The courthouse will be closed Nov. 27-29 for Thanksgiving and Dec. 26 for Christmas, according to DeLay.