KJAS News learned on Thursday that in just under a month, the Jasper City Jail will no longer be used to hold inmates. According to Jasper Police Lieutenant Garrett Foster, this will go into effect on Tuesday, February 1st.

Foster said “If you compare Jasper to other cities, we’re one of the last few towns of our size to actually still use a city jail”.

In the future, all arrestees will go straight to the Jasper County Jail. Foster said “It just makes more sense, liability wise. The county has an adequate jail facility with a trained staff, we just don’t have that here”.

Jasper County Sheriff Mitchel Newman said that he recently met with Jasper Mayor Randy Sayers and other city officials and they reached an agreement for the city to pay the county $40.00 per day for each city inmate that the county holds.

Currently, the City of Jasper is facing a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died in the city jail.

Dallas attorney Dean Malone represents the family of Steven Mitchell Qualls, who was a 28-year-old Colmesneil resident and was arrested by Jasper Police on January 28th, 2019 on a charge of Public Intoxication, shortly after he was released from Jasper Memorial Hospital.

Qualls was found dead in his jail cell two days later, on January 30th, 2019.

The City Jail is located inside the Jasper Police Station on South Main Street, next to City Hall.

https://www.kjas.com/news/local_news/article_fb49a686-6f3a-11ec-9cb8-d3d4139ff2e7.html