DRUG TESTING SET FOR YOUTH CENTER STAFF

City employees who will work at the new Hinds County juvenile justice
center will have to undergo drug testing by the end of the week.

Youths being detained at the old facility were moved to the new $8.9
million facility Tuesday, said Dorothy Triplett, spokeswoman for the city
of Jackson.

Hinds County supervisors voted Tuesday to transfer 20 employees to the
county payroll and to require them to submit to drug testing. The 20
employees had worked directly with youth at the old center on Silas Brown
Street.

Other youth detention center and court personnel may be subject to random
testing, said Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Charles Barbour.

Jackson/Hinds Youth Court Administrator Harold Cooper told board members
Tuesday that he was instructed to stop moving youths into the new facility,
which can hold up to 84 youths, until the employee transfer and drug
testing matter had been solved.

"On Friday all of the court people moved," he said. "We were set (Tuesday)
morning to move the kids until we were told about this drug thing."

Cooper told board members he hoped the drug testing matter would soon be
resolved because "we don't have any heat" at the old facility.

Cooper did not return telephone messages Tuesday and Wednesday.

Barbour said he was unaware the youths had been moved to the new facility.

"I can only assume that the detention center director is honoring the
wishes of the board to transfer the juveniles to the new facility and to
drug test every employee as soon as practical," Barbour said Wednesday
night. "The approval was made because of the cold conditions. It's
important that the parents of any child know that their children are being
taken care of by a drug-free and professional staff."

Barbour said even though the same employees are working with the youth now,
they should still be tested as a precautionary measure.

Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin said all employees at the Hinds
County adult detention centers are required to be tested for drug use
before they begin their first day on the job, and are subjected to random
testing.