Mississippi spends just under $350 million annually operating our state’s prison system – some $30 million less than in 2014. During a 2018 visit to Gulfport, President Donald Trump heaped praise on Mississippi for a series of corrections reforms he said would become a model for the nation.
Within weeks, with Trump signing the federal First Step Act, the Mississippi reforms became that model. Much of Trump’s admiration came as a result of Mississippi’s 2014 adoption of House Bill 585. But five years later, critics allege that law promised far more reform than it delivered.
As lawmakers return to Jackson for the 2020 regular session in January, Corrections is a state agency looking for additional personnel and additional funding to make the programs promised in 2014 more of a reality. Revisiting the initial promises of House Bill 585 would be a good start, say judicial and corrections system officials alike.
Their message? Reinvest some of the savings realized by House Bill 585 into the operation of state prisons. But the state didn’t get into this situation overnight and the fix won’t likely be quick, either.
A new study also questions the wisdom of Mississippi’s habitual offender laws as contributing to the state’s high incarceration rate and the associated taxpayer burden it creates.
In 1995, Mississippi lawmakers took what they believed at the time was a bold step toward getting tough on crime. But in doing so, the lawmakers also dramatically increased the state's prison population and therefore the operating costs of the state prison system.
The Legislature adopted the so-called "85 percent rule" which mandated that all state convicts must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole. Mississippi's law was in sharp contrast to other states, where the 85 percent rule applied only to violent offenders.
There were other factors for adoption of the law as well. First, lawmakers were scrambling to help the state qualify for federal funding under a federal crime bill. Second, lawmakers had grown frustrated with erratic discretionary swings by former Parole Boards between periods of tough and then lax parole standards. That brought pressure on lawmakers to stabilize paroles. Many believed the "truth-in-sentencing law" would accomplish that.
Finally, "truth-in-sentencing" rode to passage on the cycle of both rising overall FBI index crime rates and rising violent crime rates in the decade prior to legislative adoption of the law. Public support for adoption of the law was vocal and solid.
But the unintended consequences of the law were alarming. Mississippi's prison population soared from 12,292 at the end of the 1995 fiscal year to 31,031 at the end of the 2005 fiscal year. A subsequent National Conference of State Legislatures report called "Principles of Effective State Sentencing and Corrections Policy” outlined the broader impact:
"Mississippi's state prison population more than doubled and corrections cost increased three-fold following passage of a 1995 truth-in-sentencing law... .To deal with swelling prison populations and costs, the Mississippi Legislature twice increased the amount of good-time that low-level offenders were eligible to earn and reinstated parole eligibility for certain non-violent offenders. In 2008, lawmakers reinstated discretionary parole at 25 percent of the sentence for inmates convicted of non-violent crimes who have no violent history."
In 2014, Gov. Phil Bryant signed prison sentence reform legislation that supporters claimed could save Mississippi some $266 million over the next decade. House Bill 585 required those convicted of violent offenses to serve at least 50 percent of their sentences, while those convicted of nonviolent offenses would serve at least 25 percent before being eligible for parole.
In short, the state’s rising prison population finally put state government in the mode of reducing the number of inmates housed in the custody of MDOC Mississippi joined other states in commencing a downsizing driven primarily by budgetary concerns. Leading up to the 2014 reforms, Mississippi was simply warehousing too many non-violent offenders for unreasonable periods of time and the taxpayers got hammered over the rising costs.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Kingfish note: I dunno, Sid. Why don't you look up the Bradley Dew case. That is a damn good reason why the 85% rule was implemented. You do remember that case, don't you?
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Sid Salter: Mississippi Coming Full Circle on Unwise Corrections & Judicial Policies
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16 comments:
585 was a con game from the beginning. Epps knew he was selling a load of bs to Phil Bryant and he took it. DOC needs new leadership from the top down. After Epps DOC went from bad to worse. Hopefully the new governor will make wiser selections than Barbour & Bryant did.
What does Dew’s murder have to do with requiring NONviolent offenders to serve 85% of their sentences?
Well-said, Sid. I think if most people understood how long people can go to prison in Mississippi for a nonviolent drug offense, and how much of their tax dollars go to maintaining that system, they would be appalled and demand change as well.
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/crime-surges-oklahoma-republicans-continue-open-prison-doors/
First, make sure it is noted that there is a difference between "habitual offender laws" (most notable is the Three Strikes provision, which puts you away for life upon your third felony) and "truth in sentencing laws" such as Mississippi's 85% rule.
Secondly, talking about the 85% rule: it was enacted in reaction to judges giving sentences that seemed tough, but were easily cut by 75% through the use of parole and "good time" credit, which could be manipulated to make a seemingly tough 25 year sentence only really be only 6 years actually served. Also, this was done in the mid-1990's when the casino money was pouring in and the state has extra cash.
As always, the pendulum swings. Today, there is no extra money. And priorities have shifted away from tough, real sentences and over to the unfair sentencing for drug crimes and the disproportionate sentencing for minorities. Also, private prisons, which in the 1990's were viewed as a legitimate option for incarceration, have fallen into less regard now and are being villainized by liberal activist social engineers.
Somewhere between these two extremes is a balance that needs to be reached. But the dialogue there will be subdued as long as judges like those in Hinds County give out light sentences and suspend portions of even those light sentences. The actions of these judges will be used to illustrate why we need things like the 85% rule.
The most pressing need in Mississippi, and especially in our prison system, is mental health. The state should decide what it needs in a prison system, starting with evaluating what we actually currently have, and put together a plan to get there using one-time funding and bond funding while interest rates are low. A primary element in this need should be a mental health facility that stabilizes prisoners who are in need of mental health treatment. This will be a large part of the prison population, so make it big.
Two points here: 1) when evaluating Mississippi's prison needs, don't treat Parchman as a given. It is old, out of step, and is located in an area where from which it is hard to find and hire qualified employees. Perhaps it is time to close Parchman and build newer facilities in more populated parts of the state.
And 2) while evaluating the needs of Mississippi's prison system, remember that probably at least 80% of Mississippi's prisoners will eventually be out. Why not use the time they serve to evaluate their shortcomings and train/educate them so that they are less likely to return once they are released. There are a number of avenues to achieve this, including literacy programs, the prison industry system, the state's outstanding community college system, remedial education, halfway programs, etc.
That's just what more populated areas of the state want - a damn prison. Get real. Parchman is in the middle of nowhere because that's the only place it's welcome.
No, 11:24, Parchman is in the middle of nowhere because Delta legislators had so much influence and fought efforts to change the status quo. Even as late as the 1980's and 1990's, powerful Delta legislators like Rep. Charlie Capps and Sen. Robert Crook fought the building of prisons in Rankin and Greene counties, as well as smaller facilities in other parts of the state.
Prisons are more secure now and are currently seen as sources of jobs rather than unwelcome nuisances in populated areas. You don't hear anyone complaining about the large state prison in Rankin County, do you?
It doesn't really matter where prisons are physically located if the commissioner and deputy commissioners are incompetent or criminals.
Change is needed..
If the demographics of the prison population were reversed, this would not even be an issue. But then again, that situation would be absurd.
I honestly feel like more prison industry would help us be competitive with China. A lot of cheap walmart and dollartree crap can be made very cheaply using prison labor. Proceeds can then pay for their incarceration as well as providing prophylactics to curb the spread of HIV
"That's just what more populated areas of the state want - a damn prison. Get real. Parchman is in the middle of nowhere because that's the only place it's welcome."
First, you're nuts. Virtually every county in this state over the past forty years had petitioned for a regional prison. They're economic money makers and the state foots the bill. Industrial development groups in every 'focused' county have gone heavily to bat to sure one of these regional prisons. How the hell can you say they are unwelcome? You're a classic example of the 'shit from shinola' theory.
Second, you're nuts.
Seriously, does a topic exist for which there are not rabid experts on Jackson Jambalaya just waiting to rant about?
Seriously, does a topic exist for which there are not rabid experts on Jackson Jambalaya just waiting to rant about?
No, and if you don't care the for expertise shared here you are free to consume other Mississippi media available elsewhere.
Seriously, what did your complaint add to this discussion? I'll answer, NOTHING.
Please wake me up when another "stating the obvious" Sid Salter article is over.
to KF.... i remember the bradley dew case. please fish..... telll that goofball at 9:53 what it was all about!
There is so much wrong here, I don’t know where to begin.
1. 99% of the time habitual offender charges at the DAs level. The amount of people being imprisoned on it is minuscule. To fret over that being the reason we have a high prison population is nonsense. (Those that do get it are almost always in conjunction with a high profile crime like shooting or murder - ie they deserve it).
2. 585 is a joke. Yes it was a scam by Epps to set up future pots of money for him to embezzle and steal. All those prisoners released go to probation/parole. There MDOC still spends money on personnel to watch them, but those offenders pay 55 a month, which does NOT go to the state but back to the agency where there is little oversight on what it is spent on. Epps planned it that way.
3. Even on probation/parole the supervision is a joke. You have some counties like Hinds county which will never revoke offenders even for being indicted for murder (now that Weill and Gowan are gone). Probation/Parole exists solely to fleece these felons for money. MDOC wants a cut, circuit court wants a cut in court fines and fees. That’s the only reason the government entities even care about these people.
4. Even with said slush fund MDOC has, it is so incompetent it doesn’t even know how much money it takes in each year. It claims it does, but it’s accounting system doesn’t even link with its bank accounts. (Probably a feature not a bug when designed by Epps). About ten years ago it was found that western union - one of the ways offenders can pay their fees - has been stealing millions from MDOC and MDOC didn’t even know about because of their archaic accounting practices.
5. Aside from money, MDOC now is so worried about complying with the statutory evidence based practices - ie that their policies have metrics that are tracked and if they arnt working, they need to change - so worried about that, you have the commissioner and deputy commissioners encouraging their personnel to not revoke those offenders out on probation/parole so as to not upset the almighty recidivism rate metric.
6. The facilities themselves are a joke. They are so short staffed, you have COs working mandatory doubles - ie 24 hours - no wonder they are hemorrhaging people and contraband is rampant on the inside.
The whole agency is a joke and needs to dissolve. Contract out prisons let the counties handle offenders that are released to the community - then each county can be as harsh or lax as it wants.
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