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• A homeless man seeking shelter from the cold smashed a number of windows so he could be arrested and taken to jail, Mississippi authorities said.

• The man had previously asked jail officials if he could stay there, but deputies told him it wouldn't be possible due to liability reasons.

• "He said, 'I will make you lock me up then,'" Sheriff Travis Patten told the Natchez Democrat, adding that the man then broke a number of courthouse and sheriff's office windows.

• The man was arrested, and jail records show he has been charged with destroying property.

• The sheriff says the case highlights the county's dire need for a homeless shelter.

• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A homeless man in Mississippi deliberately smashed a number of windows with his elbow so he could get arrested and taken to jail so he could escape the cold, according to the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

The man had previously asked jail officials if he could stay inside and seek shelter, but deputies told him he couldn't stay there unless he was in custody, due to liability reasons, the Natchez Democrat reported.

"He said, 'I will make you lock me up then,'" Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten told the newspaper.

The man then proceeded to do just that, breaking windows in the nearby courthouse and sheriff's office, Patten said.

"He walked out of the jail behind me here. He walked over to the courthouse and he took his elbow, and he elbowed out several of the windows that you see broken over there now," Patten told WDAM. "He walked back into the lobby and picked up a plant. Threw it on the floor and the table that it was sitting on; he used that table to smash out both windows."

'If there was a shelter he would not have to have committed a crime'

The Adams County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

WDAM identified the man as 43-year-old Clamekus DeNorris Johnson, who was arrested after smashing the windows. Jail records show that Johnson has been charged with destroying property.

"Now, am I condoning him tearing up county property? Absolutely not," Patten told WDAM. "But when you put people in desperate situations, during desperate times, they do desperate things."

Patten added that Adams County has no homeless shelter, and the incident has highlighted the dire need for one.

"If there was a shelter he would not have to have committed a crime to have been able to get out of the cold, and could have also had a hot meal," Patten told the Natchez Democrat.

• Read more:

• Here's what you can do to help people experiencing homelessness this holiday season

• The 9 states with the worst homelessness crises reveal how bad the housing crunch has gotten in US cities

• Pop-up shelters that can be assembled in 20 minutes without tools could provide a new type of housing for the homeless

• A woman who gets $500 a month, no strings attached, reveals what it's like to be one of the few people in the US to get a basic income

Read the original article on Insider