Panola County is profiting from Shelby County, as jail inmates are being housed regularly with our neighbors due to overcrowding.

According to Jail Administrator William "B.B." Cox, Shelby County has just run out of room with the number of inmates that have flooded the facility recently, most on drug-related charges.

Cox says officers are doing their job in getting law breakers; it's just a big flood of individuals, and apparently there’s no let up anytime soon. We're just not able to house all the prisoners, therefore the transfer to Panola County.

Cox noted there were 15 male and female prisoners as of Wednesday morning being housed in Panola County at a daily cost of $40, which figures to about the same amount if they could be kept here.

He says the Shelby County Jail has only 66 beds compared to some 200 there. When Center Broadcasting spoke to Cox yesterday, he said he was preparing to send six more to Panola County.

Any medical cost incurred by prisoners taken to Panola County is picked up by Shelby County.

He added right now the 27-year old Shelby County Jail is passing state jail inspection, even with an aging infrastructure, but it's just not big enough.