NATCHEZ — Red caution tape and lots of law enforcement vehicles usually mean something bad has happened.

But despite its foreboding appearance, officials with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday the caution tape that blocked off the county jail on State Street was just for safety purposes related to construction.

ACSO Jail Administrator Capt. Ed Tucker said the tape around the building was to keep people from parking their cars too closely as the work of frosting the jail’s windows — which can throw some debris — was being done in the area.

“The windows were treated a number of years ago with tinting, because we have to allow some sunlight in there for the inmates for exposure,” Tucker said.

“We have tried to have them tinted so (the inmates) can’t have a view of the street side of the jail or the back side of the building. It prevents them from seeing or communicating with someone outside the building.”

The problem was that over the years the tint degraded, Tucker said, leading to the sheriff’s office to seek a permanent solution with the frosting of the windows.

An ACSO spokesperson said a goal of having the work finished by Wednesday evening, but that if it was not completed then it would be done Thursday evening.

The work was delayed, however, after the company’s machine developed a leak preventing them from finishing the work until early June.

The frosting work had to be done in the evenings because the machine used in the process is apparently loud enough to disturb business in the courthouse across the street, the spokesperson said.