Warren County already owns the land where it needs to build a new county jail.

The county owns land at the under-utilized Ceres industrial park in Flowers. That’s the perfect place to construct a county jail.

The county has proposed two other sites for its jail. The one favored by the county’s contracted engineering firm, Stantec, sits in the midst of Vicksburg’s most growing region, on Berryman Road off of Clay Street, near the city’s new fire station.

It’s understandable why Stantec would favor that site. Of the two put forth by the county’s board of supervisors, it would be easiest and less costly to get water and sewer services to the Berryman Road site.

However, while the proposed jail would likely not be visible from Clay Street, that area is home to restaurants, four hotels and another one on the way and a shopping complex. It’s prime location for additional economic development.

The Berryman Road site also would put the jail uncomfortably near an elementary school.

Opposition to that site, and rightly so, surfaced quickly, and the county should strike it from its list of potential sites for the jail.

The other area proposed for the jail — a 47-acres site located off U.S. 80 near the site of the former Pine Woods motel — would simply cost too much to get sewer and other utilities to it.

We can’t imagine any tenants or potential tenants of the industrial park minding that a county jail would locate near them. In fact, those industrial tenants may welcome the stepped up law enforcement presence. It’s not like we are building a Parchman. This facility is a county jail.

Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs formed a committee within the city on Monday to study building a jail or holding facility here. We’re sure that move was meant to urge the board of supervisors to act with a sense of urgency.

The issue of the jail has been bantered around for more than a decade now. The need for a new jail is undeniable. The county’s present jail is a danger to inmates and law enforcement officers alike.

The city pays upward of $1 million a year to transport and house its misdemeanor inmates in Issaquena County. It would behoove the board of supervisors to seek Flaggs’ help in moving the issue of building a county jail forward. With his 20 or so years experience as a state legislator, he could no doubt help ease the construction of a new county jail through any legislative hurdles.

The county should use the land it owns now at Ceres to build a new jail, which could reduce the cost of the project by a million dollars or more, and should seeks Flaggs’ help in making it a reality.