Embattled Sheriff Wiley Calcote on Friday acknowledged somemerit regarding improper jail passes but said other allegationsinvolving him and the jail were politically motivated.

The sheriff, whose department is faced with allegations ofmisconduct in its supervision of state inmates, said an internalinvestigation has revealed there were some discrepancies.

“I have personally investigated the allegations against myoffice recently reported by the Brookhaven DAILY LEADER and othermedia outlets. To my regret, it appears that one of the allegationshas some merit,” Calcote wrote in a prepared statement.

“My investigation revealed that one of my employees issuedunauthorized inmate passes,” he wrote. “The individual who issuedthose passes is no longer employed by the Lincoln County Sheriff’sDepartment.”

In a follow-up interview, Calcote did not identify the formeremployee, citing an ongoing internal investigation.

“We’re not ready to name him at this point … We will name himonce the investigation is complete,” he said.

Calcote said passes in question were issues from the end of Maythrough approximately June and early July of this year. The sheriffsaid a motive had been established for the employee to issue theimproper passes, but he could not publicly reveal it until theinvestigation is complete.

The sheriff said Friday he had not notified the MississippiDepartment of Corrections of the findings, but would do so during ameeting with an investigator from the agency early this week.

“I am going to give it to (the) investigator at that point,” thesheriff said.

He added that should the meeting be delayed, he would contactthe agency and forward his findings at that time.

MDOC Director Chris Epps has said an investigation of theLincoln County Jail is centered on the “poor management andsupervision” of inmates at the facility.

Epps alleged the jail provided improper passes, which allowinmates to leave the facility unsupervised for a specified lengthof time. He further alleged unclassified inmates were used on workcrews and were allowed to receive passes.

Unclassified inmates are those who have not been evaluated forminimum, medium or high security, Epps said. That determination isbased on several factors, including criminal background and mentalcondition.

On Friday, Calcote said some inmate passes were granted withouthis knowledge and admitted some were even given to unclassifiedinmates.

“Some were eligible, but others were not,” he said.

Regardless of their classification status, Calcote said, neitherhe nor MDOC had approved the passes.

“I, personally, have never given over a five-hour pass. They areusually two-hour passes,” the sheriff said. “I have given only oneovernight pass since I’ve been in office, and it was approved byMDOC. Before I would ever give a pass, a member of this office, notnecessarily me, would call and verify they were eligible for apass.

“I don’t want this to sound like I issue a lot of passeseither,” he continued. “I probably haven’t issued five passesthrough my whole administration. I’m not a believer in givingpasses, whether they are eligible for them or not.”

Several policy changes have been made at the jail following theinternal investigation, Calcote said.

“As a result of my findings, I have called a moratorium on allinmate passes,” he said in the statement. “Furthermore, I haveinstituted a policy that future passes, if any, must be personallyapproved by me. These steps should allay any concerns of theMississippi Department of Corrections.”

Epps said later Friday, however, the steps do not completelyexonerate the department and he would still not authorize stateinmates to be housed at the jail.

“Not at this time because there are still allegations we arepursuing,” the commissioner said. “It would be premature of me asan investigator to say that now everything is on the up and up andwe can go back to doing business again.”

Epps said that although the sheriff may have delegated authorityregarding authorization of inmate passes, he could not delegateresponsibility in the matter.

Although the MDOC investigation has shed light on some validallegations, Calcote questioned its origin and motive.

“From the day I took office, certain individuals motivated bypolitical ambition and/or personal animosity toward me have spreadinnuendo, unsubstantiated rumors and outright lies. It now appearsthat these persons have friends in high places,” the sheriff saidin his statement.

In the statement, the sheriff also vowed to continue fightingthe allegations and to justify the public trust “by providing fairand efficient law enforcement.”

In a related matter, Calcote said a miscommunication betweenhimself and the newspaper resulted in his inadvertent denial ofinformation that was accurate.

The sheriff said he understood the question to be regarding May2006 and not May 2005. The question involved whether Calcote wasaware of a May 2005 meeting in which jail personnel from around thestate received MDOC training regarding inmate oversight.

Calcote said he, along with former Jail Warden Ralph Boone andformer Assistant Warden Kalili Sailor, did attend the May 2005meeting. However, he denied the meeting targeted sheriffs who hadbeen identified as having problems with precisely following MDOCpolicy – as Epps earlier attested.

“If that’s the case, there must have been a lot of us becausethere were several hundred people at that meeting,” Calcotesaid.