Harrison County Detention Center Inmate Search

In the late night of November 8, 1982, an inmate in the Harrison County jail set fire to a mattress in his cell. Robert Pates had been charged with "drunkenss" the day before, released, and arrested again on November 8. The flames did not spread much beyond Mr. Pates' cell. However, the padding in the cell that confined Mr. Pate consisted of polyurethane. The flames burned that padding and released toxic fumes, overtaking much of the ventilation system and overcoming many of the occupants. The fact that rescuers could not retrieve keys that had been consumed in flames delayed and hampered the rescue efforts. At the jail warden’s request, tow trucks attempted unsuccessfully to pull the bars loose. Ultimately, the warden retrieved keys from an unconscious jailer and unlocked the jail cell.

By then, 29 perished in the fire, and 43 more sustained injuries. The Harrison County jail fire of 1982 was the deadliest in the United States since the 1977 fire at the Maury County, Tennessee jail. That fire claimed 42 lives. As was the case in the Harrison County jail disaster, padding created by synthetic foam resulted in a thick and quick spreading of toxic fumes throughout the Maury County jail.

The old Harrison County jail started in 1964 as a police station and courtroom space. By 1981, the building had become a detention center with dimensions of 96 feet by 97 feet. Beams and columns had reinforced-concrete. Cinder or concrete block formed the composition of the interior and exterior walls. Except for the polyurethane padding in the “drunk” cells and isolation cells where inmates such as Mr. Pates were held, the interior finish of the other cells had non-combustible material.

In 1990, Harrison County replaced the site of that fatal fire with a $20 million Adult Detention Center. It featured a county farm maintained by inmates. That farm and other parts of the jail sustained damaged by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005. With metal and vinyl, the buildings at the jail could withstand winds as high as 135 miles per hour. Katrina unleashed Category 3 winds (110 to 129 mph) upon Harrison County. Overall, Harrison County was one of the hardest-hit counties in Mississippi, experiencing a storm surge estimated at 19 to 23 feet.

Along with the aftermath of Katrina, concerns lodged by a grand jury over the video system, locking apparatus, doors and cell blocks led to a major improvement project in 2008. Control panels, closed-circuit video monitoring and the ability to detect motion around the jail’s perimeter also upgraded the jail. The County spent $10 million on addressing security deficits and other conditions in the jail. As of 2015, the Harrison County Adult Detention Center held the distinction as the largest in Mississippi.

In April 2019, the Harrison County Board of Supervisors approved more improvements totaling nearly $2.5 million. Part of the upgrade addresses the windows in the towers of the jail. Thanks to polycarbonate, those windows became obstructed with fog and rusty. In addition, the project will bring new security cameras, software and barbed wire coils.