Missourians have certainly created a number of unusual businesses throughout the years. After all, how else can anybody explain the Elvis is Alive Museum in Wright City?
But while that aforementioned business eventually folded due to lack of sales, Gov. Jay Nixon says another venture should be dismantled due to questionable legal and ethical issues.
Yesterday, Nixon’s office announced he had signed legislation that places some regulations on private jails. The facilities gained prominence when inmates escaped from a private jail in Johnson County.
Yet, Nixon’s signature came with a statement that featured some harsh words about the concept of private jails. The first-year Democratic chief executive called private jails “horrific policy grounded on questionable, if not absent, legal authority.”
“The confinement of individuals is a fundamental responsibility that should be handled by public entities answerable to the citizenry and not private corporations guided by profit,” Nixon wrote. “Missouri’s epxerience with private jails has been unsettling and, in my view, should not continue. The increased census of incarcerated individuals being housed in these private jails places a significant burden on local law enforcement that must respond to situations that arise in or about these for-profit institutions.”
Nixon added that his approval of the legislation was meant to impose regulatory framework where none existed. Boone County does not have any private jails. The two in the state are located in Johnson and Harrison Counties.
Interestingly, Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff questioned the legality of private jails in a recent ruling. The case involved whether a private jail in Johnson County was liable to pay sales and use tax on consumable items it supplies to inmates.
Tags: david pearce, denny hoskins, jay nixon, jefferson city, private jailsCategories: Politics, State Politics.
