New Madrid County Commissioners close jail, put improvements on hold

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- As early as Thursday, New Madrid County could have a decision on where its prisoners will be housed for the next six months.

After a meeting of the New Madrid County Commission on Thursday, all prisoners at the New Madrid County Jail were moved and the jail facilities closed.

County Clerk Clement Cravens said the decision followed a meeting with the attorney for the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management fund. The jail's insurance is provided through MOPERM, which recently advised the county it would no longer provide insurance coverage for any future assaults at the county's jail facility unless corrective measures were taken.

The county had begun making improvements such as installing a new video monitoring system in the jail. Improvements to the jail doors also were planned.

"In that discussion with the attorney, a lot of things were discussed on what it would take to get the jail up to speed and all the costs involved," Cravens said. "The more [the county commissioners] thought about the outlay of expenditures ... they decided to close the jail right now and take another look at the situation sometime after the end of year."

On July 2, 28 prisoners were moved to the Scott County Jail. With the commission's decision Thursday, the remaining prisoners were moved out of the New Madrid facility, which sits adjacent to the county courthouse. Although the installation of the video surveillance system will be completed, the repair of the jail doors and improvements to the roof were put on hold, Cravens said.

Pertinent address:

New Madrid, Mo.