A troubled county jail in Raymond, Miss., houses nearly 130 inmates who have been held for a year or more without trial, reports the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. And two men have been in the Hinds County Detention Center, 15 miles west of Jackson, for eight years and seven years, respectively, without going to trial. Each were known to have mental health issues when they were incarcerated.
Marktain Kilpatrick Simmons, 43, was jailed in November 2006 in connection with a stabbing death. Simmons had spent time in a state mental hospital and had been arrested at least twice on “lunacy” complaints. Jail records also show Lee Vernel Knight, 47, has been in the Raymond facility since December 2007, accused in the Christmas Day stabbing death of his brother. The Hinds County facility has been under scrutiny since a riot broke out there three weeks ago, leaving one inmate dead and seven injured. The county board of supervisors declared a state of emergency for the facility.