NATCHEZ — A local judge has expressed his interest in seeing Adams County develop a work farm for those who have been convicted of crimes in local courts.

The idea of a work farm, which has been brought up several times by Supervisor Calvin Butler in the last few years, was recently revived by Supervisor David Carter, who suggested the county could use land near the Adams County Extension Service building if other officials want to pursue the idea.

Carter also serves as the extension service director.

Justice Court Judge Charlie Vess said last week he thinks the idea is one worth pursuing, and said he wants to suggest to the supervisors a plan through which it might find its initial funding.

“They might look at adding a dollar to each fine that (the county) collects through justice court,” Vess said.

“They could use that money to fund an initial study to see if it might work, and then after they study it, we will still have a small kitty left to go toward (the farm).”

Vess said the idea of a work farm could be useful in a number of ways, including in the collection of unpaid fines, a problem the justice court has struggled with through the years.

“If someone isn’t able to pay their fine, then they will at least be able to work it off for the county,” Vess said.

Another way the farm could be useful is as a form of rehabilitative justice, he said.

“A lot of people have gotten away from this idea of rehabilitation, but for some people you can give them a fine and they’ll just decide not to pay it,” Vess said. “But they might be much less likely to do that if they know they might have to do some good hard work as well.”

The judge suggested a committee including members of the board of supervisors, county administrator and local business people be formed to study the options for the work farm.

“They’ll have to look at the costs of feeding, transport and perhaps medical treatment for people at the work farm, but they can come back in six months with their recommendations and we could shoot for a target goal of starting up in next April,” Vess said.