Previous grand juries have called for a new jail, but this week’s was the first to suggest a timetable or location for such construction.

The panel meeting in Warren County Circuit Court included a target timeframe of five years and a suggestion that the jail be built not far from the courthouse.

&#8220The board of supervisors should expeditiously set forth and implement a plan for the construction of a new, up-to-date facility within the next five years,” the panel wrote in its report.

&#8220The board should begin by aggressively seeking to secure property within close proximity to the Warren County Courthouse.”

A new jail should be large enough to provide for adequate housing of prisoners, safe working environments for jail and sheriff’s office staff and storage for auxiliary equipment necessary for sheriff’s office operations, the jurors added.

Among grand jurors’ duties is to meet with public officials, inspect public facilities and report on their findings. The recommendation for a new jail was one of six this week’s panel delivered Thursday afternoon to Judge Isadore Patrick.

The panel said it met with Sheriff Martin Pace; Judge Frank Vollor, also of Warren County Circuit Court and the leader in establishing its drug-court-probation program; Chief Tommy Moffett of the Vicksburg Police Department; the director of the consolidated emergency-dispatch center, Geoffrey Greetham; county prosecutor Richard Johnson; and Judge Johnny Price of Warren County Court and Youth Court.

It also recommended: