Hinds County offciials are considering the termination of a six-year agreement to store unclaimed remains at a temporary facility near the Hinds County Community College Raymond campus. this potential move follows a recent refrigeration failure that has heightened concerns about the safety and management of the stored remains.
A power outage at the Highway 18 morgue
A recent power failure at the temporary morgue located on Highway 18 has accelerated the timeline for ending the off-site storage arrangement.. As WLBT reported, the outage shut down the coolers used to hold unclaimed bodies, creating an immediate crisis for the facility's management and the integrity of the storage.
The Hinds County Community College, which owns the building near its Raymond campus, has clarified its role in the arrangement. According to a statement from the college, the institution entered an equipment use agreement with the Board of Supervisors but has not been responsible for the maintenance or daily operation of the morgue space.
The 155 homicides of 2021 and the pandemic backlog
The need for the Highway 18 facility originally emerged due to a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge in violent crime. during the height of the pandemic, the coroner's office struggled with the logistical demands of recording deaths and transporting bodies across the county.
A significant spike in local violence also necessitated the extra space, including a record 155 homicides in Jackson during 2021. While the number of bodies currently in storage has fluctuated—with at least 33 boides held as of August 2025 compared to 55 the previous year—the pressure on the coroner's office remains a central issue for Hinds County officials.
The 2023 failure to notify families
Hinds County must manage the transition of unclaimed bodies while adhering to strict state laws regarding family notification. State law requires counties to make reasonable efforts to contact relatives before a body is approved for burial or cremation after a five-day period.
The importance of these protocols was underscored by a 2023 incident where the county buried three men in the Hinds paupers' cemetery without notifying their families. this failure was exemplified by the case of Dexter Wade, whose family remained unaware of his death because his body had been labeled unclaimed and processed through the pauper burial system.
What Coroner Jermiah Howard has yet to clarify
Several critical questions remain regarding the logistics of clearing the Highway 18 facility. It is currently unknown how the coroner's office intends to move the existing remains or what new permanent storage solutions, if any, are being prepared to handle the current backlog.
Coroner Jermiah Howard has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the specific steps required to wind down the use of the temporary morgue. The county's plan for managing the current volume of unclaimed bodies remains unverified as the Board of Supervisors moves toward a final decision.
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